My Mother’s Son

By: David Hirshberg

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My Mother’s Son has won nine literary awards:

• Gold Medal, Regional Fiction, 2018 Independent Publisher Book Awards;

• Winner, Best Regional Fiction, 2018 National Indie Excellence Awards;

• Winner, two New York City Big Book Awards 2018: Historical Fiction and Debut Fiction;

• Winner, Independent Press Award 2019 Literary Fiction.

• Winner, three CIPA EVVY Awards: 2019 Literary Fiction, First Place; 2019 Historical Fiction, Second Place; 2019 Debut Fiction, Second Place.

• Finalist, Best Book Awards: 2020 Historical Fiction.

David Hirsherg’s debut novel My Mother’s Son is a celebration of family in all its complex imperfections. The narrative centers around a retiring radio personality, Joel, telling his own story about growing up in post-war Boston. Local and international politics, the relationships between Joel’s Jewish and other large ethnic communities in the city, a public health crisis, and the drama surrounding the local baseball team all shape his childhood and understanding of his world.

Joel has a strong cast of supporting characters that bring humor, depth, and vibrancy to the young man’s story. The book is as much about how Joel gains maturity in understanding himself as it is about his becoming more aware of the people around him. Hirshberg succeeds in crafting characters with full personalities without allowing them to become caricatures of themselves.

Notwithstanding Harry Potter, it’s been a long time since I the story of a 12 year old boy has engaged me so fully and emotionally as Hirshberg’s novel has done. While there were points in the novel where I wished the author would pick up the pace, I also appreciated that as the story develops, it maintains multiple levels of truths that readers can only tease out slowly. The story of the family develops over generations. It wouldn’t be fair to expect Joel to discover all its intricacies without taking some detours.

Anyone who grew up in a Jewish community in the shadow of the Holocaust will likely find a great deal to relate to in Joel’s story. Anyone with ties to the city of Boston or who has strong memories of major league baseball in the 50s won’t be able to read this book without strong feelings of nostalgia. Even as Joel’s story is very much his own, the family’s immigrant history and network of connections contribute to the universal nature of this book. My Mother’s Sonisn’t just the story of Joel and his family, but the story of a generation.

BooksandBlintzes received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this novel from the publisher for the purpose of writing this review. The views expressed here are solely those of the author.

Hirshberg, David. “My Mother’s Son”, Fig Tree Books, 2018.

Amos Lassen

“My Mother’s Son” is a novel that is written as the memoir of a radio raconteur. It uses inconceivable events of his family’s life and the world in as a way to deal with major issues that affect Americans today including disease, war, politics, immigration and business. It is set in earlier times thus giving a sense of distance. This is the story of an extended Jewish family in Boston (a grandfather, his two daughters, their husbands, an uncle and two boys, Joel (the narrator) and Steven, his older brother, who are the sons of the older daughter). The story is both universal and personal and has something for everyone— “betrayal, disease, gambling, death, bribery, persecution, kidnapping, war, politics, escape, loyalty, forgery, unconditional love, depression, Marines, theft, girls and a dog.” We read about a family and the word it lived in and what made it even more special for me is that I m in Boston as I write about it.

I believe that most of us have shared the same mysteries of childhood. We know that there are things that our parents do not always tell us when we are kids. I remember my parents reverting to Yiddish when they had something to say that they did not want us to hear. Beginning in Boston in 1952, young Joel knows that there were truths that he did not know about. It wasn’t that his parents lied to him, it was that not everything was discussed with the children. In my house, for example, the Holocaust was a forbidden topic and I did not learn about it until I was in college. (My folks did not want to upset “der kinder”). In Joel’s family the mystery of girls was not a topic for discussion; death was only for the old.

Through flashbacks to the early 1900s, we learn about Joel’s grandfather’s immigrant beginnings and his wife who had been murdered and his aunt’s running from Germany (with her husband) on the morning following Kristallnacht, in November 1938. Joel continues to learn about his family and as he does, he discovers that a souvenir baseball bat caused the death of a cousin and a murder. As he began to put things together, he uncovered a family secret.

We move forward to 1952 and the Korean War, polio, Kennedy and baseball. We see that Hirshberg sees that year as when “societal attitudes, values and policies towards war, disease, politics, sports, business and immigration” were changed. This all sounds very serious but do not worry—there is also great humor here, great dialogue and wonderful descriptions of a time that was. There are also no stereotypes— these are replaced by the multi-ethnic (Irish, Italian and Jewish) cast of characters.

I have been writing about this family and this period as if it is all very real… but it is not. This is all fiction and it all comes from the mind of the author who has stated that it is not based on anything in his life.

In 1952 I was far from Boston, growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana yet the Boston we meet here is very alive and seems very real. We see it through 13-yer-old Joel and his thoughts. Even though I have been in Boston only six years, I have spent a lot of time visiting places and reading about the Boston that was, especially Jewish Boston. What I am trying to say is that even though I have been told that this is all fiction, it could very well have been. We might say that this is “a twenty-first century exploration of the formative American Jewish experiences of the twentieth century.” It speaks to the urgent concerns of today even when we are taken back to another time.

I believe that what David Hirshberg tells us here is that we remember the lies we heard and grew up with more than we remember the truths and while I can easily explain that here, I would rather have you discover what that means by reading this wonderful novel. This is a big book coming in at about 350 pages but during the first reading, it moves quickly. I found that after I read it that I wanted to immediately go back and read it again to see if I missed anything (but that is me; I do that a lot, especially if it is a book that I am reviewing).

I love this book and this is not something I say very often. I think that by reading it, I understand myself a bit more and I certainly think that I understand American Jewish culture a bit better.

May 20

An extraordinary, captivating debut novel

With the opening line of—“When you’re a kid, they don’t always tell you the truth”—you know you have really set a high bar for yourself. It is like the baseball player who hits a home run on his first at bat. Some cynics say that it can only go down from there. But in this case, David Hirshberg not only hit it out of the park with his first swing, his debut novel keeps smacking balls over the fence, right through to the end. This opening line lays bare one of childhood’s essential mysteries: that often, what parents and other adults say is usually what is most convenient for the adults.

The narrator starts out with a beautiful setup: “Reflected in it is a story with a tale both personal and universal that I’d skirted around gingerly for all these years, a memoir about betrayal, disease, gambling, death, bribery, persecution, kidnapping, war, politics, escape, loyalty, forgery, unconditional love, depression, Marines, theft, girls and a dog. In it you’ll find extraordinary revelations about members of my family and the world we lived in, beginning at a time when I caught a glimpse into adulthood, or, as I think about it now, perhaps this was simply the first peep into the rearview mirror of childhood.” Who knows what is true and what is a feint in this outstanding novel that is hard to believe is the first bit of writing from this author. He keeps you guessing, because that is what life is really like, rarely a straight line from A to B, more often a set of paths that sometimes circle back to the beginning, so that you have to reassess what you thought you knew.

The language is musical, the humor is palpable, the narrative is riveting, the characters are fully developed; you care about them, perhaps because you know someone like them or maybe there is a part of you in one or more of them. And Hirshberg ties up the multiple threads into a comfy blanket that you can snuggle up with, ruminating on how he uses the events of the first half of the 20th century as a mirror to reflect the current issues that are in the news every day—immigration, war, communicable disease, the business of sports, and political shenanigans that have come to define early 21st century America.

It is quite a feat, and this spectator is in the stands, clapping for this rookie author who looks like he is going to be an All-Star.—Amazon Customer Review, Alexander, Verified Purchase, 5.0 out of 5 stars

Jul 24

My Mother’s Son – The Reporter Group

My Mother’s Son by Rabbi Rachel Esserman

The underlying lesson of “My Mother’s Son” by David Hirshberg (Fig Tree Press) is offered in the novel’s first sentence: “When you’re a kid, they don’t always tell you the truth.” As Joel, the novel’s narrator who is also a talk radio host, notes, adults have their reasons for lying: “They tell others they don’t want to hurt you or they think you won’t understand. But in reality, it’s just easier if they tell you what makes them feel good, or what gets them out of a jam.” Retiring after doing a radio show for 47 years, Joel now wants to write about his years growing up during the 1950s, including his relationship with his brother, the politics of Boston, the worries about polio and, of course, baseball. However, something else haunts the family: the experiences of his Uncle Jake, who escaped Germany after Kristallnacht, and the reason behind his Aunt Rose’s melancholy Novembers.

Joel and his older brother, Steven, are typical boys: they’re more interested in sports and making money to attend Boston Braves baseball games, than they are in understanding the adult world. They are very proud of Papa, their grandfather, who runs a furniture store and seems to have a hand in a wide variety of activities, including local politics. Their world is rocked when they learn the Braves management may be moving the team to a different city. Joel and Steven connect with a sportswriter, who starts a campaign to keep the team in town. During this time, their Uncle Jake develops polio and the boys hope to learn more about how he arrived in the U.S. However, contradictory stories leave them puzzled about exactly what happened. It’s only as Joel matures that he uncovers some deeply hidden family secrets concerning his uncle and aunt.

While “My Mother’s Son” is a beautiful and moving story about family, it also offers an absorbing look at the backroom politics of the time, how people maneuvered behind the scenes – sometimes using unpleasant methods – to get the results they wanted. The identity of an unnamed candidate will be obvious to those who lived during that time and will resonate with readers. The love and caring the members of Joel’s extended family show for each other shines throughout Joel’s tale. However, it’s the author’s ability to capture Joel’s youthful innocence and his growing ability to understand the world that makes this coming-of-age story stand out.

http://www.thereportergroup.org/Article.aspx?aID=4951

Jul 4

My Mother’s Son – Fresh Press

My Mother’s Son by David Hirshberg, reviewed by Svetlana Libenson

In 1952, Joel is a twelve-year-old boy surrounded by a colorful cast of characters that find themselves in shady business dealings, including loaning money, rigging and fixing teams or horse races, and so much more. Set in post-World War II, other timely events take place, and Joel acts as our eyes and ears to tell the stories of the aftermath of the Holocaust, the Korean War, the polio epidemic, as well as his own family’s secrets.

“When you’re a kid, they don’t always tell you the truth.” With an opening line like that, it’s easy to see why MY MOTHER’S SON by David Hirshberg should become a classic like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, spanning the length of one year from 1952 to 1953. This is a story that deals with an immersive reality of living in 1952 when the Holocaust was a mere shadow, polio a threat to life, and when coming-of-age meant figuring out reality from fantasy, which the story presents in hefty doses. It’s impressive that the character of Joel is on target for his age, and isn’t asking me to suspend my belief that he knows everything there is to know. Joel is very inquisitive and isn’t afraid of asking tough questions as well as finding out the tough answers for them.

MY MOTHER’S SON is a pure joy to read, and a perfect antidote for today’s times. This is really a story that has something for everyone be it mysteries, suspense, sports, romance, even history. Entertaining, comedic and extremely nostalgic, MY MOTHER’S SON is a story of the heart that echoes from today to 1952 and it dares to ask whether things were as simple in the “good old days” as we’d like to think, when in fact life back then was just as complicated. I would recommend MY MOTHER’S SON by David Hirshberg for readers who love historical fiction, baseball, coming-of- age stories, family mysteries and Judaic elements.

Jun 10

My Mother’s Son – Washington Jewish Week

A magical, distant world called the 1950s

http://washingtonjewishweek.com/46462/a-magical-distant-world-called-the-1950s/arts/arts_features/books/

JUNE 7, 2018 BY AARON LEIBEL

“My Mother’s Son” by David Hirshberg. Bedford, N.Y.: Fig Tree Books, 2018. 349 pages. $23.95.

Ah, the ’50s. It was Eisenhower and Nixon; McCarthy, the villain (Joseph from Wisconsin, not Eugene, the 1968 hero, from Minnesota); the literate and witty Adlai Stevenson, who reportedly suffered from just a slight case of social anti-Semitism; look-alike houses in look-alike suburbs to which Jews and other Americans living in crowded cities fled; my hometown of Baltimore going big league (Colts, Orioles) in two successive years; the brand spanking new interstate highway system beckoning you to “see the USA in your Chevrolet, America is waiting for you to call”; Elvis and Ed Sullivan. It was a great time to be an American — if you were a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.

Author David Hirshberg — a pseudonym for a businessman, who, we are told, wants to keep his literary and commercial lives separate — gives readers the opportunity to enter a literary time machine and return to this era in which Jews were finally beginning to feel at home in this country, at the same time that white America was experiencing unprecedented prosperity and optimism about its future.

Interspersed with the adventures of a Boston Jewish family in the 1950s, Hirshberg presents two conflicting — and equally compelling — stories of how a member of the family escaped from Nazi Germany and came to the United States.

The experiences of this family resonated with me almost from Page 1. But even if you’re not an old guy like me, “My Mother’s Son” will show how American Jewry coped with the challenges and prospered in an earlier — and vastly different — era.

The story is told by 13-year-old Joel and centers on his and his older brother Steven’s adventures. No moral beacon, no light unto the nations, this family. On the contrary, they seemed to fit in extremely well with Boston’s earthy political culture and society.

The boys’ grandfather bought votes for Boston politician John Francis “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald. Seeming to continue a family tradition, Joel and Steven stole postcards from a newspaper office to help elect Fitzgerald’s grandson, John F. Kennedy, to the U.S. Senate.

Joel and Steven participated in illegal gambling by delivering bets and winnings and helped a soldier go AWOL during the Korean War.

And, inadvertently, they contributed to the suicide of a beloved relative.

Among its other lessons, “My Mother’s Son” vividly demonstrates the cumulative effects of 65 years of steady inflation on the value of the dollar.

The boys are given 25 cents each a week — enough to completely satisfy their craving for sweets — to deliver bookie payments.

Then, they are asked if they would like to earn $5 each to help set up tables for a political meeting and clean up afterward. “‘Well, would I like to eat ice cream every meal, play baseball every day, get to kiss a girl once a week?’ I thought. Our faces lit up like Roman candles,” narrator Joel recalls.

But, in essence, this is a wonderful coming-of-age novel. Part of the book’s magic is the innocence of Joel and his brother.

When the Boston Braves decided to relocate to Milwaukee, people in Baltimore, who also thought their city would become home to the team, were disappointed. “There was a guy who’d made a scarecrow, dressed it in a suit, stuck a picture of Mr. Perini [the owner of the Braves] on its face, and hung the thing from a lamppost in effigy, which I guessed at the time was part of Baltimore like the North End was part of Boston.”

When a newspaper endorsed Congressman Kennedy in his run for the Senate, people were “saying that the fix was in,” writes Joel. “I Iooked at Steven, not knowing what was broken, but all he did was shrug his shoulders, letting me know that he hadn’t a clue, either, as to what this meant.”

The two boys were changing as they grew up. Joel noted that when they were younger, they believed everything they were told. But that was no longer the case.

“Cynicism is an acquired taste, no different from broccoli rabe or chenille or op art. … There does come a time, however, when it becomes too much for a kid to swallow everything whole … . It’s the moment you realize that you’re becoming an adult, for better or for worse.”

The teenagers were not only growing up but becoming sophisticated in their maturation —sometimes reaching a level of worldly wisdom that others never attain.

The boys’ Uncle Jake died under mysterious circumstances, and they asked their parents about it. During the conversation, Joel started to say something but for some reason held back.

“It was as if a future me were sending a warning to the kid me, signaling that it wasn’t always appropriate to say whatever was on my mind,” the narrator says.

“A subconscious flag was being waved in my direction, and the fact that it was perceived and properly translated was another indication that I was on my way to becoming an adult.”

Finally, Joel figured out that his uncle committed suicide. Joel’s father tried to explain to him how the boys’ uncle suffered in Germany during the 1930s, but said that his brother-in-law wouldn’t talk about it. “For the first time in my life, I could detect sadness in a voice, a tonal quality that we can both generate and decode only as our brains wire up for adulthood,” Joel notes.

This book feels to me like a fictionalized autobiography. But even if I’m wrong and its pure make-believe, it’s a book with fascinating, warm, credible characters.

Aaron Leibel is a former editor at The Jerusalem Post and Washington Jewish Week. His novel, “Generations: The Story of a Jewish Family,” which spans 1,500 years and three continents, is available at amazon.com and in Kindle format.

Jun 1

My Mother’s Son – Caroline Leavitt Interview

David Hirshberg talks with Caroline Leavitt about MY MOTHER’S SON, fictional memoir, and how events from the past can still resonate today.

My Mother’s Son is a literary novel written as the memoir of a radio raconteur that uses the inconceivable events of his family’s life and the world in which he lived as a foil to deal with major issues that affect Americans today – disease, war, politics, immigration and business.

And it’s already racking up raves like this:

“Only occasionally does a novel like this come along—one that sculpts a vivid, irresistible portrait of a life and times. Evocative of the 1950’s, with cinematic flashbacks and flash-forwards, it is clever, poignant and funny. Hirshberg allows the reader to eavesdrop on complicated 1950s family intimacies that had been clouded by years of denial, secrecy and self-preservation. What he exposes are the riches left behind, those that reveal the truth of the human condition. This is a book worth reading, probably more than once.” Mitch Markowitz, screenwriter of Good Morning, Vietnam

David Hirshberg is the pseudonym for an entrepreneur who prefers to keep his business activities separate from his writing endeavors. As an author, he adopted the first name of his father-in-law and the last name of his maternal grandfather. He is an accomplished “C” level executive, having served in the Life Science Industry as CEO of four firms.

Thank you so much, David, for being here.

Q: The format is interesting — it’s written in the first person as a fictional memoir — why did you choose that mode of storytelling?

A: As I’m writing, I try to take on the personality of the protagonist and invent what I might have done or said. The conceit that this is a fictional memoir came after many drafts, and freed me up to tell the story as I might have done had I actually been a radio raconteur.

Q: Why did you decide to set the story in 1952?

A: The idea to set the current events of the book primarily in 1952 was a conscious decision based on three considerations: (1) the requirement that all of the ingredients that were central to the book could be found in that year; (2) that there would be readers who could connect with the era, even if they were quite young at that time; and (3) that the world of post-War America was not too remote for most people to be able to see a reflection of what is going on today.

In the summer of 1952 when the Korean War was raging, Bostonians were confronted with: a major polio epidemic; a bitter senate fight between young Irish congressman (John F. Kennedy) against an entrenched WASP (Henry Cabot Lodge); the impending move of the Braves franchise out of the city; and many shenanigans that involved local politicians and business people that were hidden behind the headlines of the newspapers. It was the perfect cauldron to heat up a story that could resonate with readers in 2018.

Q: The book feels extremely autobiographical. How much of your life is in the book and how much is just invented/researched?

A: There is not one scene, character, location or situation that is real or that has anything to do with me or anyone I have known. It was all made up out of whole cloth, with the obvious exceptions, for example, that certain facts are true: that there was a race for the senate between Kennedy and Lodge; that the Boston Braves did move to Milwaukee; that President Kennedy did make a speech in Berlin in 1963; that Kristallnacht happened in 1938; that the Korean War was in a stalemate in 1952; etc. It’s important to note, however, that the scenes in the book that revolve around these events are pure fiction.

Q: How does a book, based decades ago, resonate with what’s happening today?

A: The novel was purposefully set in earlier times so as to provide some distance from the current ‘talking heads’ climate that instantly categorizes and analyzes events from a narrow, partisan perspective. In the 1950s, we were faced with the Korean War, the polio epidemic, vicious political campaigns, the integration of Irish, Italians and Jews into the social fabric of big cities, and the recognition that sports were also a business. Today we have wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, the AIDS plague, vicious political campaigns, the integration of Latin Americans and Muslims into our society and more ink is spilled in the media on the activities of athletes and owners outside of the sports they play and manage. So, while in many ways, the book is a paean to the Boston of an earlier era (and, by extension, to the America of the post-World War II period), it sings to us today by allowing us to understand that although the instances and events in the book are specific to that period, we can see in them what is going on today—for better or for worse.

Q: What’s obsessing you now and why?

A: Unlike certain other authors, I do characterize myself as a Jewish writer, and I’m more than half way through a second book that pivots around Jewish-themed issues in the 1960s. And yes, obsession is a good way to characterize my intense feelings about the new manuscript. As we get older, we do tend to concentrate more on those things that matter and put off to the side the common everyday occurrences that once seemed to consume us.

Q: What question did I not ask that I should have?

A: Why did I take up writing non-autobiographical literary fiction as a second act later in life? I used to say that because I don’t play golf, have a second home in a ski or beach locale, don’t have a hobby that involves a plane or a boat, that I had the time to write. While that’s true, and I’ve enjoyed tremendously my business career, I’ve found immersing myself in the world of words to be intellectually and emotionally stimulating and this has been augmented by my wife’s enthusiastic support every step of the way.

https://carolineleavittville.blogspot.com/2018/05/david-hirshberg-talks-about-my-mothers.html?m=1

Caroline Leavitt is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling novelist, screenwriter, editor, namer, critic, movie addict and chocoholic

May 31

My Mother’s Son – The Jewish Advocate Boston

The Jewish Advocate (Boston) interview with David Hirshberg – May 30, 2018 — https://www.thejewishadvocate.com/articles/hirshberg/

The Jewish Advocate: Your main character had his own radio show for decades. He had a mentor, whom your refer to as the real Guy on the Radio? Who was he?

David Hirshberg: The Guy on the Radio is a tribute to Jean Shepherd: He was, in my mind, the greatest story teller of all time on the radio. He’d riff for two hours a night, never stumbling, always bringing this full circle, with humor and insight.

TJA: Why didn’t we learn more about the narrator’s current life, what he did with it, after all of his experiences?

Hirshberg: It was intentional to leave this out as I felt that it would not add to the book, and a little mystery about his life was the appropriate way to go. We don’t know other things that were intentionally left out, to wit: the first and last names of Joel’s and Steven’s parents, the name of The Guy on the Radio, The Boxer’s name, etc.

TJA: You write under a pseudonym, but your picture is on the jacket cover. You are certainly recognizable to friends and associates. How come?

Hirshberg: The desire was not to hide my identity, but rather to separate my business and writing lives. I think of these two parts of my life as separate entities and am comfortable with attaching different names to each part of my life. If I used my real name, a Google search would find hundreds of references to me in my business life first and this is something that I didn’t want to happen. Googling David Hirshberg enables someone to hone in on my writing life, which is what I wanted to accomplish.

TJA: Your details about Coolidge Corner and Brookline, as well as the rest of Boston, are so convincing. Did you grow up here?

Hirshberg: I grew up in Eastchester, New York, which is in southern Westchester County, about 20 miles north of midtown Manhattan.

TJA: You have been successful in business and now turned to writing. Have you always planned to write this book or something like it?

Hirshberg: I always planned to do something for Act 2, but wasn’t sure what it was until a few years ago. I’d written a play and thought about getting it produced, but when I started the novel and gave chapters to people who really liked it, I decided to try to make a name for myself with a novel and then could go back to playwriting. I would like to do both going forward. Specifically, with regard to this novel, when it started out it had a slightly different focus and only when it started to ‘write itself,’ did I commit to this story and the underlying themes.

May 25

My Mother’s Son – Jennifer — Tar Heel Reader

4.5 charming stars to My Mother’s Son!

Thank you to my friends, Elyse and Angela, for this wonderful recommendation. I am ecstatic after reading this book.

Joel worked as a radio host for over 40 years, and he is our narrator with the present day being the 1950s (one of my favorite time periods of which to read because both my parents were children during that time). Joel tells us the story of his life in post WWII Boston.

Hot button issues of the time form the historical backdrop of this endearing story and include the Korean War, the polio epidemic, the years after the Holocaust, and all the various political scandals.

My Mother’s Son is a carefully woven tale of the same topics that know no time and place- betrayal and hate, and on the flip side, steadfastness and immense love. I took off half a star just because some of the baseball stuff was a little draggy to me (I’m just not a baseball fan). Otherwise, this is book gold!

Thank you to David Hirshberg for this lovely debut, as well as Fig Tree Books and Edelweiss for ARC. My Mother’s Son is available now!

Synopsis:

In the spirit of Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America and Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay comes My Mother’s Son, the meticulously-crafted debut novel from David Hirshberg. The story is told by a radio raconteur revisiting his past in post-World War II Boston, the playground and battleground for two brothers whose lives are transformed by discoveries they never could have imagined. From the opening line of the book, “When you’re a kid, they don’t always tell you the truth,” the stage is set for this riveting coming-of-age story that plays out against the backdrop of the Korean War, the aftermath of the Holocaust, the polio epidemic, the relocation of a baseball team, and the shenanigans of politicians and businessmen. Hirshberg deftly weaves together events, characters, and clues and creates a rich tapestry of betrayal, persecution, death, loyalty, and unconditional love that resonates with today’s America.

https://jennifertarheelreader.com/category/throwback-thursday/

My Mother’s Son – Book Marketing Buzz Blog

Interview with author David Hirshberg

What really inspired you to write your book, to force you from taking an idea or experience and conveying it into a book?

Part of the impetus came from realizing that if I wanted to start ‘Act 2’, I had better get going. I had been a CEO and Chairman for many years, and while I have enjoyed my career, I also knew it was time to do something different. And, too, I am emotionally invested in current events, am a student of American history, and have been an avid reader of high-quality literary fiction for many years. So I thought I would merge these non-business interests, and the best way to do that was to write a novel of historical literary fiction that dealt with an American story that might be of interest to today’s readers.

The question from the outset was how to do this, I could not just pluck something out of thin air. I wanted to write about the major issues that are in the headlines—disease, war, politics, immigration and business. However, I knew instinctively that I would have to set it in earlier times so as to provide some distance from the current ‘talking heads’ climate that instantly categorizes and analyzes events from a narrow, partisan perspective.

I had to find the right circumstances and after researching events and years, I came upon the idea of situating the book in Boston in 1952, when the Korean War was raging, there was a major polio epidemic, a young Irish congressman was running for the senate against an entrenched WASP and the sports world was being turned upside down with the move of a baseball franchise out of the city. This had all of the ingredients that I felt would work for me in trying to tell a story that had some relevance to the world in which we now live.

Then I had to come up with the structure and, ultimately hit upon writing My Mother’s Son as the memoir of a radio raconteur who lived through the era and had family members whose history was rich in American stories. I could use literary license to create a set of inconceivable events of his family’s life and the world in which he lived as the foundation on which to build the novel.

Personally, it is my belief that our American culture has been profoundly changed and one can arguably trace the center of this shift to the time immediately preceding and following 1952, allowing the reader to view this year as the prism that refracted our societal attitudes, values and policies towards war, disease, politics, sports, business and immigration.

What is it about and whom do you believe is your targeted reader?

The opening line of the book, “When you’re a kid, they don’t always tell you the truth,” lays bare one of childhood’s essential mysteries—that often, what parents and other adults say is usually what is most convenient for the adults. The lives of two Jewish brothers in post-World War II Boston are transformed by secrets and discoveries they never could have envisioned, including an unimaginable family secret.

Told in the first-person by Joel, the younger brother, now a retired radio raconteur revisiting his past, every element—from his grandfather’s immigrant beginnings to his aunt’s flight from Germany on the day following Kristallnacht—is infused with history, experience, and perspective. At its core, this is a poignant story told with humor, vivid descriptions, and insights that weaves a rich tapestry of betrayal, persecution, death, loyalty, and unconditional love that resonates with today’s America.

It is my hope that readers of literary fiction, historical fiction and those who want to understand more about the current issues that are in the news every day—immigration, war, communicable disease, politicians and business people behaving in highly suspect behavior—will be drawn to it.

What do you hope will be the everlasting thoughts for readers who finish your book? What should remain with them long after putting it down?

I want a reader to stop and think not only about what I have written, but also about how it relates to what is going on today. If a reader thinks that he or she has a more profound understanding of the issues that are in the headlines today, that would be very satisfying to me … and hopefully to him or her as well. So much of our current conversations are sound bites, fleeting sentences that are essentially declarations of preconceived thinking. Few people really engage in discourse that enables them to understand other people’s positions and actions. In the long run, I also want readers to think about the language that I have used and how it distinguishers literary fiction from other genres.

What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers?

Before you start writing, read the works of those who are considered to be at the apex of the genre in which you wish to play. Then, as you make early progress in your writing, stop and think about how persons x, y, and z at the pinnacle of his or her game would have written the scene, and if your work does not measure up, abandon it and start over again. Writing is easy; writing well is hard, very hard, especially dialogue, which has to mimic how people actually speak, something that sounds simple but is extraordinarily difficult.

What trends in the book world do you see and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading?

It is becoming harder and harder for debut authors to break through, especially with larger publishing houses that tend to focus on blockbuster titles. And, too, the onus is more and more on authors to promote their own works, with many publishers providing only minimal assistance; they even do that for just short periods of time after the publication date, at which point, for them, it is on to the next book. Having said all this, it is clear to me that quality does rise to the top and an excellent book will get noticed, because the American reading public hungers for high quality books. A good debut book may not garner a huge amount of sales, but it will build a reader and critic audience that is then waiting for the next one.

What great challenges did you have in writing your book?

I pushed myself through many drafts until I found that the book was consistent on all levels: story-telling; character development; the use of language, as well as what I call the impact statement. By that I mean does the reader know what the book was really about. In other words, if someone were to inquire about it, I want the reader to not just tell about the plot line, but to be able to say how the book spoke to him or her, what was its main messages or messages, which could then provoke a substantive conversation. I wrote it with an eye on making a statement that librarians, reviewers, bloggers and influential readers would understand and be eager to then comment.

If people can only buy one book this month, why should it be yours?

While it speaks to the issues of today through a look-back at any earlier time, it is, in the words of Mitch Markowitz, screenwriter of Good Morning, Vietnam, a book that “…sculpts a vivid, irresistible portrait of a life and times. Evocative of the 1950’s, with cinematic flashbacks and flash-forwards, it is clever, poignant and funny.” Mitch and others who have read it have been entertained; that is the takeaway that should entice those who want to read a work of literary and historical fiction which is also enjoyable.

David Hirshberg is the pseudonym for an entrepreneur who prefers to keep his business activities separate from his writing endeavors. As an author, he adopted the first name of his father-in-law and the last name of his maternal grandfather, as a tribute to their impact on his life. Using his given name, he is an accomplished ‘C-level suite’ executive, having served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of four firms, Chairman of the Board of six companies and a member of the board of three other organizations. In addition, he is the founder and CEO of a publishing company.Hirshberg is a New Yorker who holds an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Much like the narrator in My Mother’s Son, he is a raconteur in real life as well as through his fiction. His range of interests outside of business is in American history, Jewish literature and practices, the nexus of science and religion, the current cultural wars in our society, and in English, Irish and Gordon setters. Please consult: www.DavidHirshberg.com

http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/search?q=david+hirshberg

May 7

My Mother’s Son – The Jewish Book Council

Review from the Jewish Book Council by Renita Last

My Mother’s Son is a moving coming-of-age story spiced with dark family secrets, historical references, dirty politics, and poignant immigrants’ tales that beautifully evoke life in 1950s Boston.

Now a successful radio raconteur, Joel reminisces about his childhood and the years beyond. “When you’re a kid,” he laments, “they don’t always tell you the truth.” This is the account of how the thoughtful, clever, and open narrator finds and unfolds the truths that were woven into the lies, exaggerations, and family lore he’s been told.

Joel and his brother Steven grow up in a time of close-knit extended families, playing baseball, rabidly rooting for hometown teams, discovering girls, collecting stamps and an appreciation for history, and watching TV pioneers emerge. It’s also a time during which the Korean War raged and neighbors went to fight and die, the polio epidemic was a constant threat, and Holocaust survivors didn’t share their experiences—and yet the quirks and differences among relatives, neighbors, and friends were kindly accepted and readily acknowledged.

Joel’s family saga emanates from his beloved grandfather. Papa succeeds in his new America by using his wits and resourcefulness to carve out a niche for his family. He becomes involved in Boston politics at a time when Jewish and Italian immigrants worked within the pecking order of the Irish city bosses. Joel and Steven are entrusted with the weekly delivering and receiving of “envelopes” as they bicycle all over town. They’re exposed to political intrigue, a baseball scandal, and a colorful group of men of all ethnicities.

The deeply human relationships of the characters are explored in many flashbacks and reveal unexpected, humorous, and touching plot twists. Kristallnacht, the Kennedy machine, kidnappings, depression, and murders all add layers to the narrative.

This well-crafted, compassionate, and witty debut novel is an emotional and entertaining read. David Hirshberg artfully constructs Joel’s life and drops hints and clues as the story sweeps along. The complicated back stories of betrayals, loyalty, and love are engrossingly intertwined with the present.

My Mother’s Son explores today’s values along with the past as Joel’s struggles lead him to realize life is never simple. The many half-truths and clouded secrets he’s dealt with over the years finally become clear as Joel realizes he truly is his mother’s son. This journey from innocence to acceptance is satisfying, rich, and reflective.

May 3

My Mother’s Son – Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with David Hirshberg – May 3, 2018 (http://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com)

David Hirshberg, the pseudonym for an entrepreneur and business executive, is the author of the new novel My Mother’s Son, which takes place in Boston in the 1950s.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for My Mother’s Son, and for the family you describe in the book?

A: The idea for the novel has a lot to do with what I wanted to say. I thought long and hard about writing a book that would address really serious issues—immigration, political issues, the shenanigans that go on in business, the lies people say to each other, wars.

I thought if I wrote a book about that and set it in today’s time, it would be a big mistake. Somebody on the left would say I was on the right. Somebody on the right would say I was on the left. Even as fiction, somebody would say this is thinly veiled.

I was tremendously impressed with Barbara Tuchman’s book A Distant Mirror, about the 15^th century war between France and England. But it was really about the First World War. It reflected things she believed were still in play in 1913-14.

I took a lesson from that. It wasn’t a distant mirror, but if I could write about an era with similarities to the last few years, it would be interesting, and would free me up from the talking heads climate of somebody attacking [the book].

Q: So why the 1950s? Why Boston? And how did you research the book?

A: The reason I ended up focusing on 1952 is that I was searching for things—if the 1920s and ‘30s were too far in the past, the 1980s and ‘90s were too close. I looked to the 1950s. I did some homework, looking for the issues of immigration, politics, business, war, and sports. They were all in turmoil. In 1952, all these things were major issues, centered in Boston.

First, there was a polio epidemic. This was before the Salk and Sabin vaccines. It was a very serious issue. That was a distant mirror for AIDS.

Second, there was a vicious Senate campaign between John Kennedy and Henry Cabot Lodge. Lodge was the scion of a very WASPy family, and John Kennedy was the grandson of Irish immigrants and was Catholic. The idea that Massachusetts could have a Catholic senator was appalling to a lot of people. It was a signal that if Kennedy won the times would be changing.

You can look at the Obama campaign–the campaign against Obama, against Senator Clinton, they were pretty vicious. I was trying to find similarities.

The next one was war. The Korean War was raging. Most people don’t know about the Korean War. They know about World War II, about Vietnam, but nothing about Korea…Like Iraq and Afghanistan, it was very distant. There was no [impact] on the home front. Today in Iraq and Afghanistan we are totally disconnected and there’s nothing on the home front. It’s a nice surrogate.

1952 also happened to be a year that was very big in sports. It was the first time a baseball franchise moved. The Boston Braves decided to move to Milwaukee. It shocked people. No one ever thought of baseball as a business.

Now, in today’s newspapers, almost everything is about contract disputes, domestic violence, stadiums with bad behavior. Sports today is almost all about business. That started in 1952.

The last issue was immigration. It’s on everybody’s mind today. DACA, Trump with the wall. Immigration in the early 20^th century through 1952 was about Irish, Italians, and Jews. Ironically, in Boston, the Irish were coming of age, the Italians were coming of age, the Jews were coming of age.

When I looked at all the years of the 1950s, Boston in 1952 was the epicenter of all these issues.

For the research, thank god for Google. I didn’t have to take trips. It can all be done online. I didn’t do one-on-one interviews. In my writing, I don’t interview people. I know a lot of people say you have to do that. I don’t.

For me, it interferes with my creative capabilities. It could subconsciously affect what I write. The whole thing has to be germinated from me without any biases.

Q: You are writing under a pseudonym. Why did you choose to do that?

A: It’s one I wrestled with. In my business activities, I don’t say this with any braggadocio, but I’m pretty well known. I felt if I used my name, somebody would say, oh, it’s a book about X because it’s his industry, or about Y because I know he’s involved in that transaction, or about Z because he raised money for that [entity]. I didn’t want anybody Googling me and saying [that].

Or [they could say] I know he calls it literary fiction but it’s probably some piece of crap he slapped together. That’s the kind of thing I wanted to avoid. People will look at the book not knowing the author, and can evaluate the book on its merits.

Q: What do you think the novel says about the impact of World War II on those that survived it?

A: The question is how did they survive it, and the book tries to show certain people weren’t involved in the war. Papa and his friends, none participated in the war because they were too old. They never even talked about the war. They went about their business as if there were no war.

On the other hand, you had people such as the boy’s uncle who actually wasn’t in the war but escaped from Germany in 1938. I tried to show that even though he wasn’t physically harmed…the effect of World War II on him was profound…

For me, the main point was the fact that there were people who survived, in Germany and Eastern Europe, who survived the Holocaust by getting out just before, or sneaking out of the camps, the impact on some was so profound that they couldn’t cope with life…

Q: Are you working on another novel?

A: I’m two-thirds through another book. I don’t want to say too much about it. This book is centered on the 1950s; the next is on the 1960s.

It’s very different. There’s a little bit of magic realism involved. It’s set in the United States. I’m in love with it but I haven’t finished it. I don’t know if I’ll love it when I’m finished…I’m hoping to finish by the end of the year.

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: A couple of things. First the entire book pivots from the opening line: When you’re a kid, they don’t always tell you the truth. It’s really important to the book. It sets up everything in the book [and implies that] lies are coming.

Second, I had a couple of friends in a book group and they read the penultimate draft. They noticed the symmetry in the book. Things are set up in the beginning that [recur at the end]. It’s structured in a way that allows the reader to be satisfied in the end that everything is wrapped up…

Another thing that distinguishes the book is that I’ve used hundreds of foreign words. It’s the way people talk. The Irish people talk like Irish people, the Italians like Italians, the Jews like Jews. I spent an enormous amount of time making sure this was really how people speak. That’s very, very important to me, to portray how people actually speak.

–Interview with Deborah Kalb

May 2

My Mother’s Son – Elyse Walters’ Blog

“My Mother’s Son” by David Hirshberg

Elyse Walters Nov 10, 2017

A highly pleasurable novel…engrossing and irresistible!

We are transported back to the 1950’s through the voice of Joel, who for forty-seven years had worked as a radio raconteur. Upon retirement, Joel writes his memoir: “Reflected in it is a story both personal and universal that I skirted around gingerly for all these years, a memoir about betrayal, disease, gambling, death, bribery, persecution, kidnapping, war, politics, escape, loyalty, forgery, unconditional love, depression, Marines, theft, girls, and a dog”.

For most of Joel’s growing years in Boston, if you had asked what he wanted to be when he was growing up… he might have said a baseball player, veterinarian, an accountant, a furniture dealer, or a doctor…. but the reality was he had no idea of what he was going to do – for those 47 years – or what he wanted to be – until he did it. Yet as we follow along – side by side – as the 13 year old Joel tells us his story – it’s doesn’t seem surprising that Joel did in fact become “The Guy On The Radio”.

The first sentence of this novel is powerful and profound but grows even richer in meaning as we journey through the delightful storytelling by debut author David Hirshberg.

“WHEN YOU’RE A KID, THEY DON’T AWAYS TELL YOU THE TRUTH”.

This book is a family-saga fiction story — with fabulous characters: Joel’s older brother by 2 years, Steven, mom, dad, Auntie Rose, (with her wonderful inserted diary readings), Uncle Jake, Old Uncle A, Papa, Noodge Mauer, Myandrew, Frankie, Morone, Mr. Perini, Mr. Carlson, Susie, BlueDog,etc…….

This novel is also literary fiction- historical fiction – and Jewish fiction….. taking place in Boston 1952…during the polio epidemic- the world of baseball: ( The Boston Braves relocate to Milwaukee and all the drama it entailed)…post-WWII Boston, the aftermath of the Holocaust, The Korean War, Jewish experiences in America, and overall American Culture through our politicians, businessman and daily life.

The heart of this story – is a personal profound lie- which Joel discovers through the process of living itself. I found it deeply moving – and am still thinking about it.

“To be a kid, baseball is leather mitts, rubber balls, wooden bats, insignias, pennants, parks, and hotdogs. Polio is doctors, hospitals, shots, paralysis, wheelchairs, and lowered voices. War is salutes and metals, pretend battles, make-believe deaths, days off from school, guns, and parades. Politics is elections, Speeches, buttons, flags, handshakes, history, and rallies.”
“These were the things I knew, for sure, in Boston in 1952. They were truths. They were no less true than the knowledge that my parents wouldn’t lie to me, that the mystery of girls would never be revealed to me, that death came only to the old, and man’s best friend was a dog.By the end of that year, I can tell you that I still believed the thing about the dog”.

Emotionally satisfying!!!!! I cried quietly about 10 minutes ‘after’ I had finished reading this book. The richness is substantial! – enough to make this woman cry.

My Mother’s Son – Books and Blintzes

Books and Blintzes – January 29, 2018 (https://booksandblintzes.com/category/literature/book-reviews/)

My Mother’s Son – Phil Jason Reviews Books

(https://philjason.wordpress.com/2018/05/01/melting-pot-boston-in-mid-twentieth-century-explored-from-jewish-perspective/)

This is one beautiful book. It portrays a pivotal period in U. S. history flavored by the scrambling lives of European immigrants, their acculturated children, and their more fully Americanized grandchildren. Its action springs from family and historical events of 1952-1953, though it manages to cover decades both before and after. The narrator, not yet thirteen as the story begins, is looking back from near the twentieth century’s end. His name is Joel. At one point he is told that he wasn’t named for anyone in particular, but for the Jews as a whole.

The shadow of the Holocaust haunts Joel’s family, and for very good reasons that are made clear in the stretches of family history and family memory that run through the book. The Korean War is threatening to become the next world war. The polio epidemic is on everyone’s mind. On the local level, Boston’s beloved Braves, a baseball team with which so many identify, may be preparing to relocate to Milwaukee. The seeds are being planted in Boston for the future presidency of a still very young and inexperienced Massachusetts politician – a man whose Catholic identity inspires the immigrant population and points to the character of the city.

There are signs that the keyholders of political and other kinds of power may be changing. Representing this change is Joel’s powerful grandfather – a man whose business, ostensibly furniture, interfaces with various criminal activities. Even Joel and his brother Steven are involved.

Aside from marvelously recreating the time and place action, Hirshberg does a fine job of balancing the understanding and sensibilities of the young Joel against the much older and wiser version of himself that is telling the story. The story itself grows out of the bits and pieces of the past – and the application of the past to current events – that have been the bread and butter of the radio show that has been Joel’s occupation and occupational therapy for almost fifty years, drawing a large audience.

Devices that deepen the novel with additional key perspectives include most notably entries in his Aunt Rose’s diary. Rose is the most enigmatic character in the novel. Her attempts to come to terms with the Holocaust, with her years of travel as a circus performer, her transit to the United States, and her relationship to her husband Jacob– whose long preparation for death is a chilling strand of this complex, vividly detailed, yet richly satisfying novel.

Conversations between family kingpin “Papa” Mischal (Rose’s father) and his lieutenants Murph Feldman and Moses O’Neil (whose names are symbols of the immigrant melting pot) explore the motives behind the shady dealings out of which Boston’s family, community, and political lives are constructed. It’s payback time for repressed or humiliated minorities.

And these underhanded enterprises are presented in colorful prose vignettes that suggest a kind of innocence to the era while admitting to its harsh edges.

Although the early 1950s period is the core of the book and the fulcrum of Joel’s meticulously painted coming-of-age self-portrait, Hirshberg understands the need for readers to discover the steps that lead to the grandfatherly Joel whose voice has dazzled his listeners for so many decades. He allows us summary glances at Joel’s high school and college years, his military service, and his lifelong situation of needing to wrestle with important and transformational secrets about identity and the many faces of love.

It may seem curious that Hirshberg, after concluding his narrative, adds a glossary of foreign language terms – the list reinforcing the polyglot nature of Boston at the middle of the twentieth century. This spray of German, Hebrew, Irish, Italian, and Yiddish – plus a dash of Latin – suggests how the various ethnic groups interacted with one another, and in an unexpected manner, it enriches the cultural broth.

The glossary is also a reminder, if one is needed, that this is a very Jewish book – Jewish in the American way of successive generations being influenced by and reshaping a vanishing but not quite extinguished past. It is a world of Hebrew School lessons, Yiddish phrases being maintained and even penetrating the dominant non-Jewish community, and ethnic foods and – of course – memories. There are stories hidden until they must be revealed. There are other stories repeated and reshaped, perhaps with no expiration date.

I have not addressed the title of the book because to do so carries the likelihood of giving away something important too soon. I say this, dear reader, to entice you to this beautifully prepared feast of wisdom and discovery.

This essay appears in the May 2018 issues of Federation Star (Jewish Federation of Greater Naples), L’Chayim (Jewish Federation of Lee and Charlotte Counties), and The Jewish News (Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee).

Mar 10

My Mother’s Son – Booklist (American Library Association)

Booklist (American Library Association), starred review

Hirshberg’s debut novel packs both emotional punch and a vivid portrait of Jewish American life in post- WWII Boston. A retiring radio comedian reminisces on his childhood, fitting himself into the larger picture of a Jewish immigrant family and focusing on one year, 1952, as a turning point in his coming-of- age. Family characteristics help define the shape Joel’s world takes, from his mother’s “ace of spades pronouncements” through his father’s nose for numbers and his Auntie Rose’s dream of becoming a circus performer. Away from home, Joel and brother Steven navigate the larger world with buddies Noodge Mauer, Myandrew, and Frankie, realizing that grown-ups don’t always tell the whole truth. Richly recounted incidents—a seemingly innocent scheme delivering envelopes of money, the death of a neighbor in Korea, Uncle Jake and Auntie Rose’s tale of a Kristallnacht escape—come together to form a sense of American life at a particular historical moment. Who you become, the author suggests, is an amalgam of who you know and the stories you assimilate. Readers will find connections here to Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000) and to Saul Bellow’s classic The Adventures of Augie March (1953). — Jen Baker

Feb 6

My Mother’s Son – Library Journal

Library Journal starred review

DEBUT Everyone lies when they’re telling family stories, particularly when they’re speaking to children. This is what Joel, the narrator of this fascinating debut by a pseudonymous author discovers as he matures. In the memories of his childhood in post–World War II Boston, Joel recalls friends and relatives who are not quite what they appeared to be. His Jewish, Italian, and Irish neighbors are all interested in making a living, much of it illegally by cooking the books, betting on sure winners at the track, or fixing elections. They use Joel and his brother to deliver messages to the appropriate individuals. Later, as Joel grows up and becomes a popular radio storyteller, he learns the truth about his family and friends, who they really were, and what they actually did to survive. VERDICT In recalling the polio epidemic of the 1950s, the Korean War, Holocaust memories, the relocation of the Boston Braves to Milwaukee, and the election of John F. Kennedy, Hirshberg offers us a glimpse of the past through the eyes of a young boy moving into his teens. This amazing mosaic of fact and fiction will hold readers in its grip from the first to last page.—Andrea Kempf, formerly with Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS

My Mother’s Son – Foreword Reviews

Excerpt: “This colorful and complex portrait of a 1950s Jewish family is warm and nostalgic, yet grounded by deep history.”

Nov 13

My Mother’s Son — Reviews by Amos Lassen

“My Mother’s Son” by David Hirshberg— A Novel as Memoir/ A Memoir as Novel

Oct 18

Mitch Markowitz, screenwriter of Good Morning, Vietnam

Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg, author of Eden: A Novel

“Reading My Mother’s Son is like opening up a time capsule and sifting among the treasures. 1952 Boston comes alive as David Hirshberg weaves the artifacts of that year into the fabric of his poignant narrative. This provocative novel is the colorful description of life as seen through the eyes of thirteen-year-old Joel, and at the same time, a telling and re-telling that allows adult Joel to process and decipher the truths and richness of all that transpires. I enjoyed it from beginning to end.”

Thane Rosenbaum, author of The Golems of Gotham and Second Hand Smoke

“My Mother’s Son is a richly sprawling and singular Jewish-American saga. It echoes with an unwashed Boston brogue and a heart that beats with a Holocaust past. And it entertains with wit, humor and secrets both dark and luminously incandescent.”

Paul Goldberg, author of The Yid and 2017 Finalist — Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and 2016 Finalist – National Jewish Book Award Goldberg Prize for Debut Fiction

“My Mother’s Son starts out as a story of a family’s life in Jewish Boston and grows as big as a century. Fascism lurks. Polio carries off its prey. Only-in-Boston characters pop up. To wit: Murph Feldman, the Jew of Southie. Time rushes in only to roll back as the stories within stories reveal truths not only about one family and one city, but about America in the 1950s and, by extension, today. Hirshberg is a raconteur who feels no need to stop to get a sip of water.”

Dan Libenson, founder and president of the Institute for the Next Jewish Future and co-host of the Judaism Unbound podcast

“David Hirshberg has written an engrossing novel that belongs in the canon of great American Jewish literature. Filled with stories of concealed truths, shattering discoveries, and unconditional love, My Mother’s Son is a twenty-first century exploration of the formative American Jewish experiences of the twentieth century. It transports the reader to that other time even as it speaks to the urgent concerns of today.”

Oct 17

Barbara Solomon Josselsohn, author of The Last Dreamer

Sometimes it’s the lies we grow up with — more than the truths — that define who we are and where we come from. That’s the message of David Hirshberg’s coming-of-age novel, My Mother’s Son. Through the eyes of young Joel, we witness essential elements of the mid-twentieth century: the scourge of polio, the magic of baseball, the repercussions of war, and the development of modern Jewish-American culture. But above all, we come to understand why Joel is his mother’s son — and how that phrase resonates for us all. A deceptively simple, profoundly memorable novel.

My Mother’s Son

A Novel By David Hirshberg

Synopsis: