Songs for the Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari (Random House) has won the Association of Jewish Libraries' Jewish Fiction Award. Tsabari receives $1,000 and an invitation to attend the 2025 digital conference of the Association of Jewish Libraries, June 23–26.
Three honor books were also recognized:
The Hebrew Teacher by Maya Arad, translated by Jessica Cohen (New Vessel Press)
Displaced Persons: Stories by Joan Leegant (New American Press)
Rules for Ghosting by Shelly Jay Shore (Dell)
The Association of Jewish Libraries called Songs for the Brokenhearted "a moving, literary experience. In this novel, author Ayelet Tsabari intricately weaves together three timelines and perspectives: Yaqub, a young Yemenite immigrant to Israel in the 1950s, immediately lovestruck by a woman singing by the river near the immigrant camp; Zohara, a Ph.D. student in New York in 1995 increasingly disenchanted with her chosen research topic of Hebrew poetry; and her teenage nephew Yoni in Israel, struggling with his identity and grief following his grandmother's death. All three are bound by their shared history with Saida--Yaqub's love, Zohara's mother, and Yoni's grandmother.
"At its heart, Tsabari's beautiful-tragic novel explores the complex dynamics of diasporic and Israeli Jewish identities, particularly Yemenite Jews, whose painful and often neglected history she illuminates with sensitivity and depth. As Zohara confronts the loss of her mother and discovers Saida's hidden voice through tapes of her singing, she embarks on a journey of emotional rediscovery and personal healing."
AJL Fiction Award committee member Hannah Srour-Zakon added, "In its exploration of a tumultuous history through the lens of one family, Songs for the Brokenhearted is, above all, a celebration of Yemenite Jewish joy."