Island Voices

Stroud, Alan

Now and Then Books

Yesterday's Papers: v. 4: Life on the Island, 1935-1949

Yesterday's Papers: Volume 5: Life in the Island in the 1950's

From Newport to the Somme: How a Young Island Couple Were Separated by War. Told Through Their Letters to Family and Friends

At the start of World War Two, thousands of school-children are evacuated from London to the British countryside before German bombs begin to fall. Kitty Simmonds, a spirited 10-year-old girl from the city's East End, isn't pleased to be leaving her Mum and jolly Uncle Yudi behind. Once in the countryside, she's stunned at the hardships she has to endure from her "foster parents" as she struggles to maintain her Jewish identity in an alien world. She's determined to escape back to her Mum and the relative comfort of their home, even as the sirens blare and the "Blitz" begins. A warm and gripping tale, marked by authenticity and adventure, and suitable for young readers as well as adults.

I'm Not Going Back: Wartime Memoir of a Child Evacuee

Kitty Wintrob

<p>The Rise of the Toronto Jewish Community paints one of the most colourful and authentic portraits yet to emerge of what is now Canada's largest Jewish community, from its earliest days to about 1950, highlighting its strong immigrant and Yiddish flavour. Here are vivid thumbnail sketches of many early synagogues, "anshei" congregations, landsmanschaft organizations and immigrant aid societies, along with a gallery of key personalities from the community's formative period. The author, himself a prominent figure in his day, brings Toronto's vanished Ward neighbourhood back to life with vivid descriptions of the soup kitchens, soda parlours, steamship agents, coffee houses and Christian missions that once graced its predominantly Jewish streets. The narrative also offers detailed accounts of the evolution of the local Yiddish press, Jewish labour unions and indigenous garment industry on Spadina Avenue, as well as of the consequential garment workers' strike at the T. Eaton Company in 1912. The text is enhanced with many period photographs and illustrations, a glossary of Yiddish and Hebrew terms, and an afterword by the late Benjamin G. Kayfetz.</p>

The Rise of the Toronto Jewish Community

History

Shapiro, Shmuel Meyer

Americas

Paperback Edition: This first edition has now been retired. The second edition is now available.

Eighteen Months: A Love Story Interrupted

Alan L. Simons

Originally published in 1926, The Jew in Canada is the most thorough and ambitious book ever assembled about the Jews of Montreal, Toronto, Halifax, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Vancouver and numerous other Canadian cities. A treasure trove of history and genealogy, The Jew in Canada is filled with capsule biographies of hundreds of prominent personalities and community leaders, each augmented with an elegant portrait photograph. Interspersed are descriptions and illustrations of many historic synagogues, community organizations and endeavours. This is an abridged facsimile edition of an original long out of print and almost impossible to attain second-hand. It is certain to be a valuable resource for genealogists, historians, students and everyone else with an interest in Canadian Jewish history. The present edition contains all of the biographical and genealogical material of the original; only several historical essays have been omitted. Paperback, 8.25 x 11 in., 466 pages.

The Jew in Canada

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

One Foot in America

Yuri Suhl

<p>A sweet coming-of-age novel about Shloime (Sol) Kenner's first three years in America, as lived in a Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn. The protagonist, a sort of Jewish David Copperfield, takes a job in a butcher's shop to help his tradition father put bread on their table. The cast of characters includes a colorful assortment of Shloime's relatives as well as pushcart peddlers, merchants, night-school students, communists, anti-Semitic bullies, and the girls with whom he falls in love. Some of the book's most satisfying scenes take place on the boat coming over to America, while others, written in flashback, present gripping tableaux of his childhood "shtetl" in Galicia. Originally published in 1950, "One Foot in America" is a forgotten classic of Jewish immigration fiction, recommended for readers of all ages. Written with warmth, humor and a savoury Yiddish flavour; suitable for young readers. Note: Replaces 978-0-9784435-6-6.</p>

Literature & Fiction

Suhl, Yuri

Literary

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