Book summary

In an Orthodox Jewish community in Memphis, Batsheva Jacobs, a young widow, is a flamboyant, unconventional misfit. When she is accused of influencing a young girl to run away with her non-Jewish boyfriend, the community's strong and inflexible traditions are threatened.

Media reviews

"Mirvis writes lovingly of Jewish rituals....But contrasted with Basheva's spirit and creativity, the narrative voice renders the other women's religious devotion not so much rich as confining, not so much observant as quaint.....The growing Southern Jewish bookshelf...has a new, if unpracticed voice in Tova Mirvis."