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Fig Tree Books LLC Acquires Angela Himsel’s
A River Could Be a Tree: A Memoir
With Foreword by Shulem Deen
BEDFORD,NY (April 9, 2018) — Fig Tree Books LLC, publisher of the best literature of the American Jewish experience, announced today that it has acquired the rights to publish A River Could Be a Tree: A Memoirby Angela Himsel. Publication is scheduled for October 30, 2018.
Shulem Deen, author of the award-winning memoir All Who Go Do Not Return,has written the Foreword for this book.
How does a woman who grew up in rural Indiana as a fundamentalist Christian end up a practicing Jew in New York? Angela Himsel was raised in a German-American family, one of eleven children who shared a single bathroom in their rented ramshackle farmhouse in Indiana. The Himsels followed an evangelical branch of Christianity—the Worldwide Church of God—which espoused a doomsday philosophy. Only faith in Jesus, the Bible, significant tithing, and the church’s leader could save them from the evils of American culture—divorce, television, makeup, and even medicine.
From the time she was a young girl, Himsel believed that the Bible was the guidebook to being saved, and only strict adherence to the church’s tenets could allow her to escape a certain, gruesome death, receive the Holy Spirit, and live forever in the Kingdom of God. With self-preservation in mind, she decided, at nineteen, to study at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. But instead of strengthening her faith, Himsel was introduced to a whole new world—one with different people and perspectives. Her eyes were slowly opened to the church’s shortcomings, even dangers, and fueled her natural tendency to question everything she had been taught, including the guiding principles of the church and the words of the Bible itself.
Ultimately, the connection to God she so relentlessly pursued was found in the most unexpected place: a mikvah on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. This devout Christian Midwesterner found her own form of salvation—as a practicing Jewish woman.
Himsel’s seemingly impossible road from childhood cult to a committed Jewish life is traced in and around the major events of the 1970s and 80s with warmth, humor, and a multitude of religious and philosophical insights. A River Could Be a Tree: A Memoiris a fascinating story of struggle, doubt, and finally, personal fulfillment.
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A RIVER COULD BE A TREE: A Memoirby Angela Himsel
Fig Tree Books LLC; October 30, 2018; Print $23.95; e-book $14.99
ISBN hardcover: 978-1-941493-24-3; ISBN e-book: 978-1-941493-25-0
About the Author:Angela Himsel is a freelance writer based in New York City whose work has appeared in TheNew York Times, The Jewish Week, the Forward,Lilith Magazine, BOMBMagazineand several other outlets. Her weekly column “Angetevka” on Zeek.net examined her life as an observant Jew on Manhattan’s Upper West Side against the backdrop of her fundamentalist Christian upbringing in Jasper, Indiana. For this body of work, Himsel received the American Jewish Press Association’s Rockower Award for Excellence in Commentary. She holds a BA in religious studies from Indiana University, which included a two-year stint studying at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and also has an MFA in creative writing from The City College of New York. Angela is represented by The Deborah Harris Agency.
About Fig Tree Books: Fig Tree Books LLC, established in 2013, publishes literature that enlightens the unique American Jewish experience. It released the award-winning memoir by Abigail Pogrebin My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jewin 2017 and will publish the debut novel My Mother’s Sonby David Hirshberg on May 15, 2018. Fig Tree’s other titles include novels from debut and previously-published authors, as well as important works that had gone out of print. Books are published in hard copy and e-book formats and distributed to the tradeby Publishers Group West, a Division of Ingram Publishing. More information can be found on its website athttp://www.FigTreeBooks.net.
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