Is two Jews, three opinions a good thing? In this episode, Laurie Frankel discusses the very Jewish capacity of holding space for many different ideas and views, and how this capacity might be exactly what we need in this moment. We’ll also discuss the power and devastation of Cythnia Ozick’s short story “The Shawl,” its contribution to the conversation around trauma, and how a difficult-to-believe premise followed by realism (like that in Naomi Alderman’s The Power) is one of Laurie’s favorite structures for fiction.

Laurie Frankel is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of six novels. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Poets & Writers, Publisher’s Weekly, People Magazine, Lit Hub, The Sydney Morning Herald, and more. She is the recipient of the Washington State Book Award and the Endeavor Award. A proponent of transgender rights, she wrote about her child’s transition in an essay in the New York Times titled, “From He to She in First Grade.” Her novel This Is How It Always Is, also about a transgender child, was a Reese’s Book Club Pick and was listed as one of the best books of 2017 by People Magazine, Bustle, and more.

Laurie’s latest novel is Enormous Wings. At seventy-seven, Pepper Mills is too old to be a stranger in a strange land. She didn’t choose the Vista View Retirement Community of Austin, Texas—that would be her three grown children—but when she grudgingly moves in, she not only makes new friends, she falls in love. Then the exhaustion, vomiting, and confusion start. She fears it’s cancer, dementia, a stroke. But a raft of tests later, the news is even more shocking: She’s pregnant. As word gets out, everyone wants a piece of her: the press and paparazzi, activists and medical researchers, belly-rubbers and rubber-neckers all descending on Vista View while Pepper struggles to determine her next move. Soon she has some hard decisions to make—and some she’s not allowed to make.

Laurie Frankel’s Five Books:

1. The Shawl and Rosa, interconnected short stories by Cynthia Ozick

2. Angels in America, a play by Tony Kushner

3. The Power by Naomi Alderman

4. The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann

5. Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel

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The Five Books is a podcast that celebrates the role of books in Jewish culture. Through author interviews, we delve into Jewish identity and discover each author’s favorite novels. Join us every week for new Jewish book recommendations! Some of our episodes have included conversations with Rabbi Sharon Brous, Sam Sussman, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl and Allegra Goodman.

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Hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen

Produced by Odelia Rubin

Editorial and website support by Amelia Merrill

Artwork by Elad Lifshitz of the Dov Abramson Studio

Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions