Yid Lit: Anna Solomon

Jewish mail-order bride. Sounds like an oxymoron, right? And for that matter, Jewish pioneer does too. But they existed. And they inspired Anna Solomon to write her debut novel, “The Little Bride” (Riverhead). She researched Jewish pioneers settling land in the American heartland and the Great Plains in the late 1800s.

Enter 16-year-old Minna Losk, who must travel from Odessa to America to wed a stringently Orthodox Jewish pioneer who turns out to be more than twice her age. This isn’t the only thing that falls short of her expectations.

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