About Miriam Flock's Historical Novel
Wild Grapes
A man who's too good for this world is bad for his wife. That's Bluma Rappaport's assessment when she joins her husband in his Talmudic efforts to "go back to the land" on a farm in Geneva, Ohio, during the early years of the twentieth century. While Sender studies the holy texts, Bluma is left to navigate life in a new and sometimes hostile country while struggling to give her daughters a better life.
Praise for Wild Grapes
A new and refreshing take on Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe to the US outside of the teeming cities….Wild Grapes is both an engrossing read and an authentic entrée to Jewish historical experience in America.
—Shulamit S. Magnus, National Jewish Book Award winner
Miriam Flock’s courageous, unsparing matriarch, Bluma Rappaport, is driven to help her daughters escape the circumscribed life that has been her lot. Wild Grapes reminds us how families can cultivate belonging even in the most unyielding ground.
—Michael J. Rosen, two-time National Jewish Book Award winner
I was immediately absorbed by this riveting story of an immigrant Jewish family intent on making it in early 20th century America. I grew to love the characters. Their hardships and their joys brought me to tears and laughter.
—Rabbi Sheldon Lewis, author, Torah of Reconciliation