Shayna

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK CLUB AWARD
WINNER HACKNEY LITERARY AWARD

1919 Ukraine — In a small trunk in the corner of an abandoned shed a young woman huddles hiding from the Cossacks ravaging her shtetl, burning homes, and killing Jews. Shayna Rifkin, seventeen, loses everything. Desperate to find safety, she dreams of reaching America. Shayna rescues her four-year-old nephew and with her fiancé and his mother braves a perilous trek across Europe.

Shayna's courage and determination bind them together, weaving a strong fabric from their separate threads to make a family, a safe place from which to build a new life in a new country.

The novel portrays the Yiddish culture of the shtetl and New York's Lower East side as the reader comes to know little Dovid, who lives with the trauma of losing his family; Yussi, who believes God has forsaken him in this new country; and his mother, Manya, who struggles to find a way to fit in America.

This emotionally rich novel is steeped in the Yiddish culture of the shtetl and the Lower East Side of New York in the early 20th century.

“With so much fiction devoted to the Holocaust, it is refreshing to read a historical novel about the period of the great Jewish migration from Eastern Europe to the New World. From the founding of HIAS, the Jewish refugee agency, from the 1880s - 1920s, millions of Jewish immigrants arrived in the U.S. There is hardly a Jewish family in the U.S. whose immigration is not rooted in that era. Few novels tell that story. It is all the more gratifying that this one, Shayna, tells it beautifully. From the moment I picked up Shayna's saga, I was captivated and found myself caring deeply about her and her family. That is the test of a good novel—and this one passes with flying colors! Kudos to the author.” —Roberta Elliott, daughter of a refugee, and former VP of Communications, HIAS

“I loved this book! It's authentic, emotionally satisfying, and a compelling read.” Bonnie Dimun, Executive Director, Museum at Eldridge Street

“Miriam Ruth Black's writing is stunning. Shayna draws readers into this epic story of one woman's flight from the dark night of the pogroms where death and tragedy propel her to take the unimaginable journey through Europe to the "Goldeneh Medina," the Golden Land, as America was named by thousands of Eastern European Jews. Black has the talent and the heart to create a character and her story that readers will long remember. I loved this book!”—Shelly Christensen, Author of From Longing to Belonging