Elise Esther Hearst

Sorrow and Bliss meets Normal People in this utterly compelling, darkly humorous millennial coming-of-age novel about a 27-year-old single Jewish woman in Melbourne who must learn to reconcile family expectations, cultural constraints and inter-generational trauma with her own desires. A coruscating new voice.

Gemma had grown up in Bendigo and only moved to the city for uni. Maybe once a month I would bring Gemma along to a Shabbat dinner at my parents' place. My family weren't religious. We were cultural Jews, 'prawn cocktail Jews', (my mother's little joke), who didn't talk about God and still had Shabbat dinner each week and said prayers by rote without thinking about what they meant. Even though my parents rarely attended, they still paid their membership fees to the local Reform synagogue, [this one] which ensured recognition on special occasions and my father a High Holy Day ticket for Yom Kippur, where he would pray fast, doggedly, and then return to his position of religious ambivalence the following day. But when Gemma had first come for Shabbat, I lamented my family not being more observant, because if they were the Shabbat would have been more of a spectacle. I wished my parents had more clutter — more tchotchkes — and didn't live so tastefully. Cookie made up for it though, telling Gemma that she was insulting us by not eating enough. Gemma had smiled gleefully at that and spooned more potatoes and sweetened carrots onto her plate. (p.42)