An Unorthodox Match: A Novel

Naomi Ragen

Sep 2019 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

An Unorthodox Match is a powerful and moving novel of faith, love, and acceptance, from author Naomi Ragen, the international bestselling author of The Devil in Jerusalem.

California girl Lola has her life all set up: business degree, handsome fiancé, fast track career, when suddenly, without warning, everything tragically implodes. After years fruitlessly searching for love, marriage, and children, she decides to take the radical step of seeking spirituality and meaning far outside the parameters of modern life in the insular, ultraorthodox enclave of Boro Park, Brooklyn. There, fate brings her to the dysfunctional home of newly-widowed Jacob, a devout Torah scholar, whose life is also in turmoil, and whose small children are aching for the kindness of a womanly touch.

While her mother direly predicts she is ruining her life, enslaving herself to a community that is a misogynistic religious cult, Lola’s heart tells her something far more complicated. But it is the shocking and unexpected messages of her new community itself which will finally force her into a deeper understanding of the real choices she now faces and which will ultimately decide her fate.

Ratings and reviews

I received a free electronic copy of this excellent novel from Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Naomi Ragen. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. An Unorthodox Match is set in Boro Park, Brooklyn, NY in a modern time frame, peopled by many of the Orthodox Jewish members of that community, giving us an interesting and intimate look into the everyday lives, the heritage and the chosen lifestyles of these families of Jewish ancestry. Leah Howard is the granddaughter of Orthodox Jews, but their daughter, Leah's mother Cheryl is a hippy and agnostic never-married liberated mother and her father a one-night-stand. Named Lola at birth, she chooses to go by Leah now that she is an adult, and after her job folds up and the senseless death of her fiance Josh, she is in the process of learning about her heritage and her religion. Leah's Grandparents have passed, and her mother Cheryl is greatly opposed to Leah having anything to do with the religion Cheryl felt was a cult that had ruined her early years with its rules and rituals. Leah feels that the formality, the protocol, and teachings of the Jewish religion are just what she needs to put her life into perspective and learn to live with her loses. She desperately needs to have the support of both her religion and her community as she comes to face her future as it is, now. One of her first decisions is to volunteer in the neighborhood and through using her computer and marketing skills, she soon has a good business shaping up. Then as she begins absorbing her immersion into the life of this community, she offers to volunteer in the afternoons in the home of a widower, Yaakov Lehman. Yaakov is deeply involved with full-time religious studies at the yeshiva. It has been months since the passing of his wife but their home is still in flux, with chores falling to the wayside and meals and laundry catch-as-catch-can. The income to support the family came from Zissele's outside employment, so money is fast becoming a problem, as well. Yaakov signs up for night classes in accounting so that he might be employable which adds to the time Shaindele has to put in on the household and siblings. Leah immediately falls for the two youngest of the five Lehman children, Chasya is about three, and Mordechai is a little over one. Shaindele is 15 and worn out trying to cover the household chores, babysitting her young siblings and completing her school work. The two oldest children, sons, are away at a yeshiva in Baltimore, so don't add to the problems at home, but also cannot help. Fruma Esther Sonnenbaum, the mother of Yaakov's deceased wife Zissele, tries to help but she too is very tired and can't always be counted on. The sky is falling. Things must change, difficult as change is. And the changes are the best part of this novel. The insular reactions and gossip are the worst. This family will make it through to the other side. I am pleased to recommend to friends and family. Though not a fast read, I felt this was an excellent story with an interesting lesson and folks that feel like family.

Just get to it already. I couldn't finish it, definitely not worth the $12 dollars

About the author

NAOMI RAGEN's novels include The Ghost of Hannah Mendes, The Covenant, The Sisters Weiss, and The Devil in Jerusalem, and have been international bestsellers. Her weekly email columns on life in the Middle East are read by thousands of subscribers worldwide. An American, she has lived in Jerusalem for the past forty years and was voted one of the three most popular authors in Israel.