(Fiction, 416 p. 2025)
On June 7, 1907, a ship packed with Russian Jews set sail not to Jerusalem or New York, as many on board have dreamed, but to Texas. The man who persuades the passengers to go is David Jochelmann, Rachel Cockerell’s great-grandfather. The journey marks the beginning of the Galveston Movement, a forgotten moment in history when ten thousand Jews fled to Texas in the leadup to World War I. In an inventive style that weaves together letters, diaries, memoirs, newspaper articles, and interviews, Cockerell captures history as it unfolds for the Zangwill and the Jochelmann family, revealing lives intertwined with some of the most memorable figures of the twentieth century.
Review by Marc Tracy, The New York Times, May 9, 2025
Review by Matthew Reisz, The Guardian, February 18, 2024
Review by Publishers Weekly, March 7, 2025
Review by Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2025
Review by Debra Cash, The Arts Fuse, June 1, 2025
Review by Casey Schwartz, The Washington Post, May 8, 2025
Review by Howard Freedman, J., June 10, 2025
Web page, Macmillan, Melting Point, May 6, 2025
