The Genizah at the House of Shepher

I loved this book. I read it nearly a year ago but decided to write a review because I can still, even now, see the pictures in my head that were evoked by the beautiful writing. I was also reminded of it when I saw that it won the Rohr prize. The judges included a professor, a novelist a Harvard fellow and an editorial director so I guess they know what's what. Reminded me a little of Isabelle Allende's style but it is stands out on its own and is well worth a read.

I travelled through time and found a long lost treasure and a long lost love along with the main character, Shulamit. Famiy, belonging, and the struggle for identity are universal themes that make this a book for all countries. I don't want to spoil a thing, you must pick up this book and travel to a different time. I promise this will enchant the discriminating reader.

Excellent book- a real page turner that succesfully allows the reader to ride the waves between the past and present of this fascinating family.

The Genizah At The House Of Shepherd is a sweeping novel that follows the return of an English biblical scholar to her grandparents' home in Jerusalem. Immersed in a simmering family feud concerning the so-called "Shepher Codex", she discovers the history of her family, from the great-grandfather who traveled to Babylon in search of the ten lost tribes, to her grandfather's Zionist ideals that caused conflict with his religion, to the tragic love affair of her parents and her own sad past. As much a parable of the transformations in Jerusalem over a hundred and thirty years as it is the story of one woman's struggle for identity and search for answers, The Genizah At The House Of Shepherd is a deeply enthralling narrative of epic spiritual proportions.

Don't read the plot summary that's included on this site. Those few paragraphs convey nothing about the actual experience of reading this book -- and an experience it is. Tamar Yellin wields language with virtuoso skill to construct a world that I didn't want to leave. I started reading this book because a friend of mine forced me to sit and listen as she read the first five chapters aloud. The reading was slow -- we were forced to repeat many sentences in sheer wonderment. ("The line of tension between choice and chance is the thread by which the miracle of existence hangs." Personal favorite.) That sort of rhetorical power is set against a Jerusalem that's described in incredible and loving detail. If you read this, you will get something out of it.