Jean Meltzer stud­ied dra­mat­ic writ­ing at NYU Tisch and has earned numer­ous awards for her work in tele­vi­sion, includ­ing a day­time Emmy. She spent five years in rab­bini­cal school before her chron­ic ill­ness forced her to with­draw, and her father told her she should write a book — just not a Jew­ish one because no one reads those. The Eight Heart­breaks of Hanukkah is her fifth novel.