I AM FORBIDDEN

Questions of faith, morality, and tradition are at the center of Markovits’s novel of a Satmar Hasidic family. Rosalyn Landor recounts the lives of four generations of the Stern family as they escape, first, Transylvania and, then, Paris ahead of the Nazis, eventually settling in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The heart of the story is the relationship between Atara Stern and Mila, the girl raised as her sister, and the way their diverging experiences of faith shape and separate them. Landor brings a quiet reverence to the novel, helping the listener understand the beliefs and emotions of the conventional family members and of those who find themselves outside the bounds of tradition. J.L.K. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2012]