by Joanna Kadish
Joanna Kadish writes beautifully about the brutal truths of living a thousand lives in a single lifetime in FLIRTING WITH EXTINCTION, due out Jan. 14 from Vine Leaves Press. An intrepid adventurer who feels the added pressure of proving herself again and again as the only girl among nine brothers, she pushes the limit in every regard: swimming with sharks, bronco riding, hiking in the wilderness, traveling the world.
But the biggest, most heartbreaking journey begins when she converts to Judaism, marries a Jewish man and starts a family. Sometimes written as first-person essays, and sometimes as fictional pieces, the author hides nothing about the generational trauma that seeps down from her dysfunctional family and through her husband’s Holocaust-marred family past; underlying anguish that leads to tragedy for her two sons.
Memoirs are for opening emotional worlds we wouldn’t otherwise know about, and the author more than accomplishes that goal through these poignant, sometimes raw, stories of living on the edge of an imperfect life and society.
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SCATTERED LIGHT, a novel, sequel to WINTER LIGHTÂ (Nov. 2025)
THE FALCON, THE WOLF AND THE HUMMINGBIRDÂ a historical novel
BLISS ROAD, a memoir
WINTER LIGHT, a novel
THE WIND THIEF, a novel
GROWING GREAT CHARACTERS, a resource for writers
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