My Mother's Wars

By Lillian Faderman,

Book cover of My Mother's Wars

Book description

An acclaimed writer on her mother’s tumultuous life as a Jewish immigrant in 1930s New York and her life-long guilt when the Holocaust claims the family she left behind in Latvia
 
A story of love, war, and life as a Jewish immigrant in the squalid factories and lively dance halls…

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Why read it?

1 author picked My Mother's Wars as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I think I literally read this book in one sitting. If I didn’t, that was only because I didn’t want the book to end.

The author, another historian, tells a hugely moving story about her mother, a Jewish immigrant in New York in the 1930s, who struggled to make her way as a young woman. Because she immigrated alone, she was also separated from her parents and siblings. 

Through occasional letters that go back and forth, Faderman’s mother dreams about reuniting her family in New York but ultimately comes to learn about the tragedies her parents and siblings endure at…