People of the Book

GJC’s Jewish book reading group meets monthly, reading and discussing fiction and nonfiction books of Jewish interest written mostly (but not solely) by Jewish writers and chosen by the group. Volunteer group members lead the discussion. For more information and the link to access the Zoom meeting, please contact Nan Myers.

October’s book is “Family Papers: A Sephardic Journey through the 20th Century” by Sara Abrevava Stein.

For centuries, the bustling port city of Salonica was home to the sprawling Levy family. As leading publishers and editors, they helped chronicle modernity as it was experienced by Sephardic Jews across the Ottoman Empire. The wars of the 20th century, however, redrew the borders around them, in the process transforming the Levys from Ottomans to Greeks. Family members soon moved across boundaries and hemispheres, stretching the familial diaspora from Greece to Western Europe, Israel, Brazil, and India. In time, the Holocaust nearly eviscerated the clan, eradicating whole branches of the family tree.  Stein, a remark­ably tena­cious, dili­gent researcher, has brought to life the myr­i­ad Levy fam­i­ly mem­bers, togeth­er with the world of a once-vital com­mu­ni­ty. She has done it mas­ter­ful­ly, with a grace­ful lit­er­ary style and a flu­id­i­ty that makes read­ing his­to­ry as dra­mat­ic and absorb­ing as any novel.