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This multigenerational tale focuses on Alberto Cohen and his descendants, a family of Sephardic Jews whose lives were buffeted by the events of their time. The novel was inspired by author Elizabeth Graver's ancestors, especially her grandmother Rebecca (the novel's main protagonist), whose story started in Turkey and culminated in America. Graver includes photographs of her relatives in the book, which adds a personal touch to the story.
*****
As the novel opens in 1907, Alberto Cohen, his wife Sultana, and their children live in Fener, a wealthy neighborhood in Istanbul, Turkey. Alberto owns a successful textile factory, and the Cohen's eight-year-old daughter Rebecca attends Catholic school with other privileged children - Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim. Rebecca speaks Ladino at home and French at school. She also has a lovely singing voice, and trills tunes in Ladino, French, and bits of Turkish, Hebrew, and Greek.
Istanbul, 1907. Rebecca Cohen on left, with siblings Isidoro and Corinne. Their cousin Victoria stands behind them.
Istanbul, circa 1900s
Rebecca especially enjoys Shabbat (the Sabbath), 'when the children are encouraged to dance and make merry, and the family visits relatives or takes a riverboat to the park. For supper there's cold fish with lemon and egg, and lokum [Turkish delight] for dessert, and the ball comes out for catch, and the tambourine for song.'
Synagogue in Istanbul
Riverboats in Istanbul
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Lokum (Turkish Delight)
Rebecca has a very happy childhood, learning needlework and drawing at school, climbing ropes at Maccabi gymnastics, spending hour after hour with her best friend Lika, listening to tales and superstitions related by Lika's Tiya (Aunt) Djentil, going to picnics, and so on. (Note: The tales of Tiya Djentil - who's actually Alberto's first wife - are wonderful!) Despite the Cohen family's obvious good fortune, Rebecca's grandmother sews a bonjuk bead to the underside of every collar to ward off the evil eye - a practice Rebecca picks up and practices all her life.
Bonjuk Bead (to ward off the evil eye)
In 1914, World War I begins, and the winds of change start to blow.
Rebecca's father Alberto is a half-hearted businessman, and he drinks raki, and plays poker, chess, and backgammon for high stakes - rapidly squandering the family fortune. At the same time, Turkish tolerance for Greeks, Armenians, and Jews fades, and 'ethnic' families begin to leave the country.
Bottles of Turkish Raki
Ethnic families emigrated from Turkey
Rebecca's friend Lika relocates to America with her parents, but Rebecca knows her family won't follow. 'Her family, especially her father, is from here [Turkey] the way the pavestones are from here, drawn from the very earth.'
Rebecca Cohen in Istanbul, 1920
Nevertheless, by 1925, Alberto and Sultana feel compelled to emigrate. Among other things, young men are being conscripted into the Turkish army, and the Cohens fear for their sons. So Alberto seeks a position elsewhere, and is offered the modest job of shammash (caretaker) of a synagogue in Barcelona, Spain. Spain!! The country that expelled the Sephardic Jews in 1492, and robbed, beat, and raped them on the way out. Spain is now inviting descendants of the Spanish Jews back, for economic reasons.
Alberto and Sultana Cohen
Alberto sees no options but to take the shammash position, and the Cohens move to Spain. Though the Jews are ostensibly welcome in Barcelona, they still have to keep a low profile. Alberto advises Rebecca, who's now a talented seamstress looking for work, not to mention they're Jewish, just to say they're Turks....and not to bring up the synagogue to anyone outside the community. When Rebecca asks why they must hide, Alberto responds, "What do you want? To dance in the streets? To scream and shout? Be my guest, and see what happens!"
Alberto is right because, despite Rebecca's excellent needlework, she's rejected by an employer who learns Rebecca's last name is Cohen - a Jewish name. "Next time - the dressmaker leans in, her voice low - "you say this: I am Marie Blanco Camayor, from Paris France."
Rebecca adopts the professional name Marie Blanco Camayor, gets a job, and since she's a talented seamstress and fashion designer, Rebecca soon has her own business. By now Rebecca is in her early twenties, well past the age girls are expected to marry. With few Jewish bachelors in Barcelona, Rebecca is encouraged to wed 29-year-old Luis Baruch, who - it turns out - is badly damaged from exposure to mustard gas during WWI.
A Jewish wedding in Barcelona, Spain
Rebecca and Luis have two children, David and Alberto (Albert), but Luis is a bad husband and absentee father, always off in other countries 'doing business.'
Barcelona, 1929. Rebecca in dark coat, with sons Albert and David in front of her and her brother Josef in doorway. Woman in striped dress unknown.
Years pass, during which Rebecca really shows her mettle, taking care of her sons, running her business, and even making a difficult journey to see Luis in Adrianople, Turkey, then returning to Spain. (Note: The 'helpful suggestions' of the Jews in Arianople are nothing short of outrageous and laughable.)
Barcelona, 1928. Rebecca Cohen Baruch sits holding her son, Albert, with son David in front of her. Her parents, Sultana and Alberto Cohen, stand behind her with other relatives and friends.
Rebecca Cohen Baruch with her sons Albert and David
By 1934, Luis has died, and European Jews are feeling the hatred of Hitler and the Nazis. Rebecca is encouraged to marry a Jewish widower named Sam Levy, who lives in America. This would provide Rebecca's sons with a father, Sam's daughter Luna with a mother, and might help the rest of the Cohen/Baruch family move to the States. To accomplish her emigration, Rebecca must wed Sam in Cuba, then enter America as his wife.
Berlin, 1930s. SA and SS men post signs signs reading Germans! Defend Yourselves! Don't buy from Jews!
Cuba in the 1930s
Now in her thirties, Rebecca faces many new challenges in Astoria, Queens (in New York City), where the Levy family resides. For one thing, Sam's mother is cool to Rebecca; for another, Sam's daughter Luna, now seven-years-old, was born severely handicapped. Luna can't walk; can't use the bathroom; speaks in grunts and garbled words; can't feed herself; and has distorted features. (Note: Luna's condition isn't named, but she apparently has cerebral palsy.)
Sam and his mother coddle Luna, but - despite Luna's very strong resistance - Rebecca takes it upon herself to make the girl more self-sufficient. When Sam protests, Rebecca tells him, "“If you wanted a dishrag for a wife, you picked the wrong lady. I won’t sit back and watch a life go down the drain." Thus Rebecca makes Luna wear her leg braces, and over time, teaches the girl to walk, talk, and take care of herself. From Luna's point of view, “Newmother [Rebecca] tortures her. For the past month, [Rebecca] has been taking her through a set of exercises for an hour a day, but with Nona [Grandmother] gone, the hour becomes two, then three.” Still, Luna's life improves over time.
Astoria, Queens in the 1940s
In Queens, Rebecca and Sam have children of their own. In addition, Rebecca guides her sons David and Albert through adolescence; opens a dressmaking shop; helps Sam with his candy store; sings a repertoire of Spanish, Hebrew, and Ladino songs at the local Jewish center - where she has a devoted following; and is an important presence in the Jewish community.
Nevertheless, in 1950, when the novel concludes, Rebecca's disappointments are many. 'She is not well-to-do, though she was born to be. She is not surrounded by family and has a perpetual sense of being not quite at home. More than anything, she is often lonely, wanting more chatter, more cuddling, more laughter and especially — is it odd for a woman her age, a mother of six? — more play.'
Catskills (New York State), 1937. Sam Levy rows the boat. Albert Baruch mugs for the camera as his brother, David Baruch, leans toward his half-brother, Jack Levy. Rebecca holds her daughter Suzanne and sits beside her stepdaughter, Luna Levy. Unknown boy in water.
Though the novel focuses largely on Rebecca, we also learn about other characters, including.:
Rebecca's father Alberto, who has a sojourn in America as a young man; divorces his first wife because she's sterile; loves reading and gardening; and has his hopes crushed by sad events.
Istanbul Garden
Rebecca's mother Sultana, who has a sunny personality and runs her Istanbul household with a cook and servants; Sultana is the optimist of the family, and tries to see the bright side of events.
Cook in old Istanbul
Rebecca's best friend Lika, who's gifted in math and science, and would like to be a nurse, which the nuns [at the Catholic school] say is possible if you pray and study hard enough.
Nurses in the early 1900s
Rebecca's son David Baruch, who's a poor student and naughty adolescent. David has a traumatic experience while he's serving as a seaman during World War II.
Seamen during WWII
And more.
Graver's word pictures of Turkey, Barcelona, Cuba and Queens are vivid and picturesque, and Graver is adept at describing the lives of the characters as they migrate from place to place. This is a compelling story of a family buffeted by fate, and the antisemitism prevalent in the 20th century. Sadly, prejudice against Jews and other groups is still (and again) a factor in the lives of many people.
Very good book, recommended to readers interested in Jewish history.
Rating: 4 stars
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