Select one of the keywords
Not Our Kind    by Kitty Zeldis Amazon.com order for
Not Our Kind
by Kitty Zeldis
Order:  USA  Can
Harper, 2018 (2018)
Hardcover, Softcover, CD, e-Book
* * *   Reviewed by Hilary Williamson

Kitty Zeldis' Not Our Kind is a tale of two women (one poor and Jewish, the other a wealthy and entitled WASP) in New York City soon after the end of World War II. Eleanor Moskowitz and Patricia Bellamy meet through a minor traffic accident that changes both their lives dramatically.

Patricia ends up hiring Eleanor to teach her troubled thirteen-year-old daughter Margaux, who struggles to deal with life after polio. What results is that Patricia starts to see her comfortable, yet very contained, world - and her husband Wynn - more clearly. The clash between their two cultures - and Wynn's actions - inadvertently trigger the dissolution of Tricia's marriage.

After they meet at the Bellamy family's Connecticut country home, a strong attraction forms between Eleanor and Tricia's bohemian brother Tom, who's recently come back from the war. But will he ever be able to commit; can Jewish Eleanor ever be accepted in his world; and can her mother ever accept Tom in theirs?

Eleanor is strong and principled, and she needs both qualities to find her way through this morass of relationships, and decide if two very different worlds can be bridged.

Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons.

Find more Historical books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews