Maya Arad's moving 12th novel, Happy New Years, charts the triumphs and challenges of an Israeli woman living in the U.S. through five decades of annual Rosh Hashanah letters to her college friends back home.
After graduating from teachers college, Leah Moskovich moves to Massachusetts, where she must quickly adapt to a new language and an entirely new culture. As the years pass, Leah writes faithfully to her classmates, detailing her experiences with relationships and motherhood; her careers in education and real estate; and her eventual move to California, where she spends much of her adulthood. A relentless optimist, Leah is always more inclined to celebrate her joys and accomplishments than dwell on darker realities. However, her private postscripts to her best friend, Mira, reveal the more complicated nuances, including her continual struggle with self-esteem and the long-term echoes of some difficult early circumstances. As she chronicles her hopes and troubles, Leah also comments on world events, such as 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis. Her tart, often wryly humorous voice provides a fascinating glimpse of her experience as an Israeli immigrant. As she ages, Leah becomes more reflective and more honest with herself, sharing deeper insights into her life as well as the times that affected her so profoundly.
Wise, absorbing, and relatable in their small details and messy emotions, Leah's letters create a richly layered portrait of a woman determined to build a satisfying life for herself. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams