The Unlike­ly Vil­lage of Eden is a mem­oir of a psy­chother­a­pist who becomes a care­giv­er to her young daugh­ter whose dis­abil­i­ties (relat­ed to a rare genet­ic dele­tion) require around-the-clock care. It is root­ed in the nar­ra­tor’s Jew­ish expe­ri­ence, and explores spir­i­tu­al ques­tions about how to recal­i­brate when life does­n’t go to plan. She also has a sup­port­ive Rab­bi who pro­vides valu­able perspective.

Nadler shares — with vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty and quin­tes­sen­tial Jew­ish humor — how this unex­pect­ed path rede­fined her fam­i­ly, her expe­ri­ence with moth­er­hood, and her­self. Ulti­mate­ly, this is a book about the pow­er of con­nec­tion, and find­ing it in unlike­ly places.