Happy New Years

"Maya Arad is the smart, tart, and heartbroken sibyl of exile, who is remaking expectations of Hebrew literature book by book."-Joshua Cohen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Netanyahus

After emigrating to the United States in the mid-1960s, Leah maintains her connection to Israel by writing an annual letter on the Jewish new year to her old friends from a women's teaching college. Comprising five decades of correspondence, the novel skillfully weaves together Leah's high hopes and deep disappointments as she navigates relationships, marriage, divorce, single motherhood, financial struggles, and professional ups and downs. Leah's relentless optimism and cheerfulness conceal disturbing truths behind her carefully crafted wordsAs her letters turn increasingly introspective, the secrets and shame that shaped her trajectory unravel. This is the epistolary novel at its best, inviting the reader to play detective and probe between the lines of Leah's insistently rosy portrayal of her life. Gradually piecing together her true circumstances, we are charmed into forgiving her minor deceptions and richly rewarded with the profound insights that Leah's self-constructed narrative reveals.

"A magical feat of storytelling that brilliantly lays bare a woman's dreams, disappointments, blind spots, aspirations, and omissions. This is a captivating and deeply moving novel about the stories we tell each other and the stories we tell ourselves."--Tova Mirvis, author of The Book of Separation and We Would Never

"Brilliant and moving . . . The great miracle of this novel is the way that slowly, naturally, over decades, it leads to the emergence of an older woman who can reflect with wisdom on her life and its failures and successes . . . Easily one of the best works of Jewish American fiction produced this century." --The Jewish Review of Books

"Maya Arad is the smart, tart, and heartbroken sibyl of exile, who is remaking expectations of Hebrew literature book by book."--Joshua Cohen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Netanyahus

"Compelling . . . A poignant novel, Happy New Years is about a woman who, despite her flaws, attempts to stake her place in the world."--Foreword Reviews

"Provides the combination we've come to expect from Arad--of pleasure and sophistication--and confirms her central and unique status in the literary arena."--Haaretz

"A touching book about immigration, growing old, dreaming big, and the attempt to remain optimistic even with the nagging sense of having missed out on life."--Walla

Maya Arad is the author of twelve books of Hebrew fiction, as well as studies in literary criticism and linguistics. Born in Israel in 1971, she received a PhD in linguistics from University College London and for the past twenty years has lived in California where she is currently writer in residence at Stanford University's Taube Center for Jewish Studies. She won a National Jewish Book Award for TheHebrew Teacher.

Jessica Cohen shared the 2017 Man Booker International Prize with author David Grossman for her translation of A Horse Walks into a Bar. She has translated works by Amos Oz, Etgar Keret, Dorit Rabinyan, Ronit Matalon, Nir Baram, and others.

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