National Network for Equitable Library Service

When your son's a genius, it's hard not to brag-even in the afterlife-in this "funny and fascinating novel about Yiddish mothers in Paradise" (Le Point). Rebecca Rosenthal, a thirty-eight-year-old mother and professor at the Sorbonne, suddenly finds herself in Heaven, surrounded by the mothers of some of the most illustrious Jewish men in recent history-including Albert Einstein, Marcel Proust, Sigmund Freud, Woody Allen, and the Marx Brothers. The ladies seem quite content to spend eternity boasting about their sons, and they aren't shy about taking a fair share of credit for their children's successes. As much as she enjoys meeting these women of history, Rebecca is also deeply dismayed over what she sees as her premature death and concerned about the fate of her eighteen-year-old son. Sharing their memories and their wisdom, the mothers reassure Rebecca that her son-like theirs-is destined for greatness. Jewish Mothers Never Die reveals in tender, funny, and searing portraits how the maternal instinct is eternal in this "light, enjoyable, and cleverly staged" little slice of Heaven (Jewish Book Council).