In Sara Good­man Confino’s lat­est nov­el, Off the Record, it’s 1962 and pro­tag­o­nist Judy Green­berg refus­es to sit back and accept the life that soci­ety says she’s sup­posed to have — — meet a man, get mar­ried, have chil­dren, and nev­er work again. Grad­u­at­ing col­lege with a jour­nal­ism degree, Judy is deter­mined to work her way up as a reporter, even if that means start­ing in the typ­ing room. The best typ­ist in the office, Judy impress­es a young reporter, Jack Fields. How­ev­er, one day at work her boss asks her to step in as a sec­re­tary, and she winds up tak­ing a call that was def­i­nite­ly not meant for her ears. Team­ing up with Jack, Judy inves­ti­gates the mys­te­ri­ous phone call because it’s her one shot to prove her­self as a reporter.

Off the Record cou­ples mid-cen­tu­ry fem­i­nism with a grip­ping plot, all while remain­ing unde­ni­ably Jew­ish as it por­trays anti­semitism in the work­place. Judy Green­berg, her grand­moth­er, and her boss, Miss Kel­ly, are three female char­ac­ters that defy soci­etal norms. All three are strong-willed and bold, which con­trasts with the oth­er women in the office, whose only goal is to meet­ing a future hus­band. Jack Fields is also extreme­ly sup­port­ive of Judy, often let­ting her take the lead because he believes in her tal­ent and her instincts. Judy’s Jew­ish upbring­ing plays a promi­nent role in Off the Record. Con­fi­no incor­po­rates it seam­less­ly, tak­ing care not to treat it as an after­thought; the Green­berg fam­i­ly Shab­bat din­ner scenes are per­fect­ly placed through­out the novel.

A con­stant page-turn­er, Off the Record is an extreme­ly engag­ing read. Judy’s ener­gy jumps off the page, and her quick wit adds some light­heart­ed­ness to the nov­el. Con­fi­no has craft­ed a sto­ry that is equal parts inspir­ing and enter­tain­ing, mak­ing Off the Record a must-read for any­one who loves his­tor­i­cal fic­tion with heart.