Sociologist Minka Pradelski's research into the effects of the Holocaust on its survivors grounds her moving but surprisingly playful debut novel, Here Comes Mrs. Kugelman. When Tsippy Silberberg's Aunt Halina passes away in Tel Aviv, she leaves Tsippy a curious inheritance: an incomplete silver fish service in an old brown suitcase. While she could have the cutlery shipped to her, Tsippy decides a trip to Israel may help her recover from a strange addiction: Tsippy is hooked on ice-cold temperatures, to the point that she eats only unthawed bags of vegetables from the freezer section of the grocery store.
When her hotel gives her reserved room to another traveler, she books into an allegedly better establishment, and finds herself chosen for a dubious honor: Mrs. Kugelman, a survivor of World War II, tells Tsippy stories of her hometown of Bedzin, Poland, so that her long-dead friends and neighbors may live once again in the retelling.
At first, Tsippy tries to escape. Soon, however, she begins to hunger for more stories of Bedzin, a village that doesn't match the terrifying picture of Polish history Tsippy gleaned from her father. The stories eventually change character, though; as Mrs. Kugelman says, "Peaceful times give way to war... I can't spare you."
Pradelski builds two charming and often humorous stories, that of Tsippy's search for her identity and that of the people of Bedzin. The resulting dual narrative manages to carry off both sweetness and pathos seamlessly, leaving the reader to ponder the power of hope over sorrow. --Jaclyn Fulwood, youth services manager at Latah County Library District and blogger at Infinite Reads