Burdened by a troubled history with her mother, Elizabeth struggles to raise her own teenage daughter differently. Although she wants to celebrate when Belle receives an opportunity miles away in New York City, she fears this will further their estrangement. Worse, Belle will be raised by her grandmother-the person from whom Elizabeth has purposefully distanced herself. While Belle is delighted to move to Manhattan and Grandmother Lillian looks forward to vicariously enjoying her success, Elizabeth volunteers to focus her energy on a young girl who has been removed from her home and, unlike Belle, wants nothing more than to be mothered. The connections of these women to the Jewish communities in which they were raised, from which they’ve fled and to which they’ve gravitated, help them negotiate the journey forward, but the disclosure of a long-buried secret threatens to keep them apart forever. Caroline Goldberg Igra’s From Where I Stand explores the challenge of being a mother, the frustration of being a daughter, and the heart wrenching complexity of being both.

Fiction
From Where I Stand
- From the Publisher
September 1, 2021
Discussion Questions

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