FSM in Fiction
This is a lovely coming of age novel that takes place during two Hanukkah celebrations almost a thousand years apart. One thread takes place in Berkeley in 1964, during the Free Speech Movement. The other takes place in the Jewish quarter of Paris in the Middle Ages. Hope, is a shy teenager with a stutter who goes to Berkeley High, and is slowly recovering after her older sister gave her LSD, leaving her with both external and internal scars. She meets a Jewish woman from the past who leads her on a journey through time where she learns she has a heroic role to play, to save a child doomed as a result of a terrible vow.
The story is riveting; the two periods intertwine seamlessly and, speaking as someone who was arrested in the Free Speech Movement, the Berkeley sections feel true and authentic. In this gripping tale, Hope must conquer her fears and make difficult decisions in both worlds.
Collier, Peter. Downriver, New York, Holt, Rine Hart and Winston, 1978.
Davidson, Sara. Loose Change, Garden City, New York, Doubleday, 1977.