At the age of twenty-two, Debby Dodd found out she was Jewish on her mother’s side. In writing Beyond Where Our Monsters Lie, Dodds incorporated fragments of her experience into a psychological thriller that could not be more timely.
The novel’s dual timeline alternates between late 1970s/early 1980s Pennsylvania Dutch country and early 1990s New York City. In the earlier storyline, Donna is a preteen in a dysfunctional family of four. Her father has substance abuse issues and her mother tries to keep her from the popular culture of the time. Donna looks out for her younger brother, Davy, and also develops a close friendship with a classmate named Melanie. But Donna’s life changes when a new girl her age moves into the neighborhood and goes to the same school. Justine is the only Jewish student at school and quickly becomes part of Melanie and Donna’s circle.
Around this time, Donna starts visiting an elderly widow in the neighborhood, Mrs. Bardawulf. As Melanie and Justine become closer, Donna spends more time with Mrs. Bardawulf, a German immigrant and master baker with a seemingly sympathetic ear. But as Donna relays her frustrations about Melanie and Justine’s friendship, Mrs. Bardawulf starts revealing her hatred of Jews and incites Donna to take revenge on Justine.
The other timeline occurs when Donna is just out of college and working as a journalist in New York City. She spends time with college friends she met at NYU, including a rabbinical student named Mark. Since moving to New York years earlier for college, Donna now sees Judaism in a new light, far from the antisemitic lens of Mrs. Baradwulf. Atonement becomes a central part of Donna’s young adult years and she feels she cannot continue her friendship with Mark without coming clean about her past back in Pennsylvania. As Donna learns, atonement is not the same thing as receiving forgiveness.
Beyond Where Our Monsters Lie is a compelling tale that explores what it’s like to learn about Judaism as a young adult. While some of the plot details in Dodds’ book may have seemed farfetched a few years ago, her story is especially relevant today with the rise of antisemitism over the last few years.
Susan Blumberg-Kason is the author of three books, including Bernardine’s Shanghai Salon: The Story of the Doyenne of Old China, and co-editor of the anthology Hong Kong Noir. She is working on a biography of Golda Meir’s childhood and teenage years in Milwaukee and Denver.
