Cursing Columbus

Having read Double Crossing, I had high expectations for Eve Tal's new book. I was not disappointed. Using both Raizel's and Lemmel's voice gave the reader a broader view--a point and counterpoint to more fully understand the range of experiences that we call the "immigrant experience." As an educator in a school that includes many immigrant families, I am excited to have a book that can help my students feel the hardships and wonders of leaving everything you know behind to carve out a new life in a strange and frightening new land. Perhaps it can help them to understand the universality of the challenges of bridging two cultures. Thank you, Eve.

After reading Eve Tal's first historical fiction, Double Crossing, based on her grandfather's journey from Russia to America, I couldn't wait to read the sequal, 'Cursing Columbus' that follows the family's courageous and sometimes painful experiences when they join Raizel and her father in America. The story deals realistically with the heartache, challenges and homesickness felt by Raizel and her family as by many immigrants and refugees who come to a new land filled with dreams for their futures. Each character in 'Cursing Columbus' develops from the earlier novel and is portrayed with great sensitivity. Eve Tal is an author who understands her characters in depth and perfects the historical settings in which the story is placed. Her writing is peppered with beautiful phrasing and flows with ease. I look forward to reading her next work.

Working to bring one's family to America was the goal of many immigrants in the early twentieth century. "Cursing Columbus" is a follow up to Eve Tal's previous volume, 'Double Crossing', telling the story of Jewish immigrants coming to America. Papa and Raziel have the money to reunite their family, but it won't be as simple as it seems. But the American dream is never as dreamy as people have believed it to be. "Cursing Columbus" is a touching story of family and overcoming the harsh odds of life.