My Mother's Wars
Drawing on the stories told to her when she was a girl, Faderman recontructs her mother’s life, devotions, and tragedies in early 1930s America in a memoiristic tale. At 17, Mary Lifton leaves her shtetl in Latvia for New York City, where she takes up residence with her half sister. It’s a short-lived arrangement, and Mary supports herself by working on and off in the garment industry. Eighteen years later, Mary, now 35 and never married, by chance meets the younger, charismatic Moishe, Faderman’s father. The two embark on a passionate, tumultuous affair that lasts for years as Mary participates in a labor-union uprising and has a romance with another man, and, while barely making ends meet, two unplanned pregnancies. An affecting undercurrent is Mary’s unending loyalty to her family left behind in Latvia. When the Nazi movement begins to gain ground in Eastern Europe, Mary’s affections for Moishe are outweighed by her harrowing desperation to save her family. As Faderman vividly chronicles her mother’s intense personality and complex experiences, she also freshly illuminates the Jewish immigrant experience. --Leah Strauss