Sisters of Fortune: A Novel
“Syrian Jewish culture gets the Jane Austen treatment, with sisters Nina, Fortune and Lucy—the rebel, the good girl and the baby of the family, respectively—all on the marriage market. What’s Mama Cohen to do? Chehebar’s witty debut dives deep into Brooklyn’s Syrian Jewish community.”—People (A Best Book of the Month)
The Cohen sisters are at a crossroads. And not just because the obedient middle sister, Fortune, has secretly started to question her engagement and impending wedding, even as her family scrambles to prepare for the big day. Nina, the rebellious eldest sister, is single at twenty-six (and growing cobwebs by her community’s standards) when she runs into an old friend who offers her a chance to choose a different path. Meanwhile, Lucy, the youngest and a senior in high school, has started sneaking around with a charming older bachelor.
As Fortune inches ever closer to the chuppah, the sisters find themselves in a tug-of-war between tradition and modernity, reckoning with what their tight-knit community wants for them—and what they want for themselves.
Sisters of Fortune is a story about dating, ambition, and coming-of-age within an immigrant community whose affection is endearing, maddening, and never boring. This novel explores the roots that entwine our lives with the ones who love us best, the dreams we hold for our daughters, and the winding paths we take to our own happy endings.
The Cohen sisters are at a crossroads. And not just because the obedient middle sister, Fortune, has secretly started to question her engagement and impending wedding, even as her family scrambles to prepare for the big day. Nina, the rebellious eldest sister, is single at twenty-six (and growing cobwebs by her community’s standards) when she runs into an old friend who offers her a chance to choose a different path. Meanwhile, Lucy, the youngest and a senior in high school, has started sneaking around with a charming older bachelor.
As Fortune inches ever closer to the chuppah, the sisters find themselves in a tug-of-war between tradition and modernity, reckoning with what their tight-knit community wants for them—and what they want for themselves.
Sisters of Fortune is a story about dating, ambition, and coming-of-age within an immigrant community whose affection is endearing, maddening, and never boring. This novel explores the roots that entwine our lives with the ones who love us best, the dreams we hold for our daughters, and the winding paths we take to our own happy endings.
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Community Reviews
Thank you to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in advance!
We follow 3 sisters, all of whom live in an Orthodox Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn, NY. I will say that I am actually from Midwood, and I love feeling that I could close my eyes and see the kind of house they live in, or the kind of street they walked on, etc.
I also love that the author gave us an insight into this community - not usually written about in a fiction story, and if they are, they are sometimes shone in a negative light. Thank you for educating us through these women (and some men) about this lifestyle and struggles within the community - the larger Jewish population thanks you!
All 3 sisters have, as you would expect, different life paths even in a stricter community. I was relieved that it didn't break up the family the way that sometimes these things do in such communities, the idea of ex-communication was never on the table even when there were deep disagreements. So the story didn't have to be about that, and we were able to see how a family helps each other and sticks together. I would love to get a glimpse into all 3 sisters' futures and see how they ended up!
We follow 3 sisters, all of whom live in an Orthodox Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn, NY. I will say that I am actually from Midwood, and I love feeling that I could close my eyes and see the kind of house they live in, or the kind of street they walked on, etc.
I also love that the author gave us an insight into this community - not usually written about in a fiction story, and if they are, they are sometimes shone in a negative light. Thank you for educating us through these women (and some men) about this lifestyle and struggles within the community - the larger Jewish population thanks you!
All 3 sisters have, as you would expect, different life paths even in a stricter community. I was relieved that it didn't break up the family the way that sometimes these things do in such communities, the idea of ex-communication was never on the table even when there were deep disagreements. So the story didn't have to be about that, and we were able to see how a family helps each other and sticks together. I would love to get a glimpse into all 3 sisters' futures and see how they ended up!
“The suffeh, the presence of tradition in the home. That is where the seeds are planted, watered, and grown. Religion gives you fear, but tradition gives you a sense of home.”
Brooklyn’s Syrian Jewish community is insular and its traditions remain strong, but the influence of the wider American culture beyond its boundaries leaks in on occasion. In this story, Fortune’s older sister Nina is chafing against the expectations about women and their role in the community, especially the idea of parental involvement in marriage prospects.
Though arranged marriages are frowned upon in the modern world, the underpinnings of this practice carries viewpoints that were once more acceptable, such as the notion that two families are being united and ensuring faith and culture are honored and maintained. The difference here is that parents only trust themselves to make a match to meet these goals. For Nina and others, partner selection has a more modern cast, which places marital and love interest decisions in the hands of the persons involved. Not so for middle child Fortune. She comfortably slips into the rhythm of societal conventions and is happy with the choice her parents offered for her approval.
The plot, which unveils a great deal of information about the lives of Brooklyn Jews, is built around the differing views between these two siblings. This has the added benefit of providing a great deal of information about the daily lives and culture of this insular community.
Debut author Esther Chehebar belongs to a non-profit that supports Brooklyn’s Syrian Jewish community, and she employs her knowledge of its culture and customs to bring this book and its cast of characters to life. It is this aspect that I found so interesting.
This book lends itself to discussions about family and generational change.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group—Random House and NetGalley for providing this eARC. #SistersofFortune #NetGalley
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