Coming this spring, Long Island local Meryl Ain is back with Shadows We Carry (SparkPress, April 25), the much-anticipated sequel to her hit debut The Takeaway Men.
In this gripping new installment, we continue the story of Bronka and JoJo Lubinski, fraternal twins who were born in a displaced persons camp in Germany before immigrating to America who are coming of age and finding their own way in the 1960s and 1970s amid social and political upheaval.
They will have to navigate sexism in school and the workplace, the challenges of balancing motherhood and a career, and living with the specter of the Holocaust and the effects it has on their family.
Relevant and timely, Shadows We Carry explores issues of reproductive rights, antisemitism, sexism, how our family ancestries affect us throughout our lives, and how some Nazis were brought to a delayed justice following World War II.
As antisemitism is on the rise, this new release highlights not just how awful the Holocaust was, but the way it has continued to affect people long after its end and the importance of never forgetting it.
Ain is a writer, author, podcaster, and career educator. The Takeaway Men, her award-winning post-Holocaust debut novel, was published in 2020. Her articles and essays have appeared in numerous publications and she is the author of two nonfiction books.
A member of The International Advisory Board for Holocaust Survivor Day, she is the host of the podcast People of the Book, and the founder of the Facebook group “Jews Love To Read!”
Ain holds a BA from Queens College, an MA from Columbia University, and a doctorate in education from Hofstra University. She and her husband, Stewart, a journalist, have three married sons and six grandchildren and live in Commack.