After emi­grat­ing to the Unit­ed States in the mid-1960s, Leah main­tains her con­nec­tion to Israel by writ­ing an annu­al let­ter on the Jew­ish new year to her old friends from a wom­en’s teach­ing col­lege. Com­pris­ing five decades of cor­re­spon­dence, the nov­el skill­ful­ly weaves togeth­er Leah’s high hopes and deep dis­ap­point­ments as she nav­i­gates rela­tion­ships, mar­riage, divorce, sin­gle moth­er­hood, finan­cial strug­gles, and pro­fes­sion­al ups and downs. Leah’s relent­less opti­mism and cheer­ful­ness con­ceal dis­turb­ing truths behind her care­ful­ly craft­ed words As her let­ters turn increas­ing­ly intro­spec­tive, the secrets and shame that shaped her tra­jec­to­ry unrav­el. This is the epis­to­lary nov­el at its best, invit­ing the read­er to play detec­tive and probe between the lines of Leah’s insis­tent­ly rosy por­tray­al of her life. Grad­u­al­ly piec­ing togeth­er her true cir­cum­stances, we are charmed into for­giv­ing her minor decep­tions and rich­ly reward­ed with the pro­found insights that Leah’s self-con­struct­ed nar­ra­tive reveals.