Set in the mid-1950s, Bromley Girls is a coming-of-age story depicting fourteen-year-old Emily Winter, the new girl at a posh girls-only New York City prep school called Bromley. Though never eschewing her Jewishness, Emily’s experience with anti-Semitism has only gone as far as seeing the play about Anne Frank on Broadway. Her biggest concerns are embarrassment over her mother’s pregnancy at an “advanced” age, the subsequent arrival of a baby brother, and how to ask a boy to be her date for the school dance. But when she overhears a group of classmates (including her new friend Phoebe) forming a social club mocking her and other Jewish students, she learns of the insidious prejudice in her new surroundings.
The book chronicles a variety of social issues that will be interesting to young readers, including social class, wealth, academic pressures, and eating disorders (with which one character struggles). With cultural references of the time, like the death of James Dean and I Love Lucy, Bromley Girls gives a well-rounded picture of a Jewish American teenager in the 1950s. Emily’s fascination with the medieval era is woven into the story, highlighting the unfortunate impact bigotry has had throughout the ages.
Martha Mendelsohn juxtaposes the modernity of mid-century Manhattan amidst the lasting effects of the Holocaust and the residual anti-Semitism. The Jewish content is mostly explored through the context of anti- Semitism in the setting of a prestigious prep school, making Bromley Girls an entertaining yet thoughtful read.
Recommended for ages 12 and up.
