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Writer's pictureKayla Isabel

In The Neighborhood of True by Susan Kaplan Carlton *eARC REVIEW and Chapter 1 Sneak Peak*

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A powerful story of love, identity, and the price of fitting in or speaking out.

After her father’s death, Ruth Robb and her family transplant themselves in the summer of 1958 from New York City to Atlanta—the land of debutantes, sweet tea, and the Ku Klux Klan. In her new hometown, Ruth quickly figures out she can be Jewish or she can be popular, but she can’t be both. Eager to fit in with the blond girls in the “pastel posse,” Ruth decides to hide her religion. Before she knows it, she is falling for the handsome and charming Davis and sipping Cokes with him and his friends at the all-white, all-Christian Club.

Does it matter that Ruth’s mother makes her attend services at the local synagogue every week? Not as long as nobody outside her family knows the truth. At temple Ruth meets Max, who is serious and intense about the fight for social justice, and now she is caught between two worlds, two religions, and two boys. But when a violent hate crime brings the different parts of Ruth’s life into sharp conflict, she will have to choose between all she’s come to love about her new life and standing up for what she believes.

*Before I jump in, I want to thank the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for this honest review. All of the opinions are my own and are in no way impacted by the fact that I received an eARC.*

I very rarely read any type of historical fiction, but this blew me away and made me feel connected to the characters in so many ways.

Ruth and her sisters are fierce, smart, and grieving. Her mom has relocated them from New York City where everyone knew they were Jewish to Atlanta, where being Jewish is consider bad. All Ruth wants is to wear long ball gowns, dance with boys, make friends and be able to be Jewish and pretend to be a member of the Southern Methodist Church.

I loved this book so much. As someone who is an Orthodox Jew, I loved seeing more representation of Jews by Jews in Young Adult Fiction. This book blew me away. There was romance, but mainly the focus was on social-justice aspect and how hard it was to be Jewish in the south during this time. There was one line that stood out to me more than anything, where it mentions Queen Esther right after Ruth talks about hiding her identity, that moment in the book made me feel so seen. I had also read it right after the holiday of Purim which is where we celebrate Queen Esther. It was the first reading a book where I understood the biblical reference and was able to really get the whole idea.

I love the fact that we are getting more books about Jews that aren’t about the holocaust. It showed that Jewish teens are the same as everyone else. We all have our struggles and we all want to fit in.  It has in fact been one of my dreams for a very long time to be a debutante. I have always wanted something like that, to wear a ball gown and dance the night away. Ah.

I really recommend this novel to anyone who is looking to read diverse novels. I give this all the stars.

Expected Publication Date: April 9th!!!

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