(REVIEWER: Angela Miller-Rothbart, Vol. 77, #3, Spring 2022)
Gita Gordon’s sweeping saga Full Circle will transport the reader back in time, into the shadow of memory and the familiarity of the homes of our grandparents.
Under Gordon’s pen the legacy of stories which have been passed down by generations of Jewish families come alive and we are able to identify with all the members of the Levine family.
Faigy Levine is persuaded by her husband Pinchas to leave their home in the shtetl of Lithuania in search of a better life in London. They leave behind the security of family and are forced to embrace a strange new world in a drab and inhospitable London with dire consequences.
Pinchas becomes critically ill, and they are advised to once again relocate, this time for the restorative power of sun and sea in in Cape Town, South Africa. It is then that Faigy’s indomitable spirit becomes evident as she takes control of the situation, steering her family to safety.
Faigy is the embodiment of the courage and resourcefulness of generations of Jewish women who are forced to make difficult decisions to ensure the welfare of their families.
“I was afraid of the decision I had made on my own, without even consulting Pinchas. This was a major decision and I had not even consulted with my husband…” says Faigy. The reader cannot but be moved by the poignancy of her words.
Gordon’s beautifully written and well researched prose weaves a tale of generations of struggle, heartbreak and loyalty while she reminds us to never stop hoping.
As we walk the familiar streets of Cape Town at the turn of the 20th century with the Levine family, Gordon’s evocative storytelling will keep you turning the pages and all the members of the family will linger in your memory long after the last page has been turned.
(Full Circle by Gita Gordon, Judaica Press, New York, 2021, hard cover, 464 pages)
Angela Miller-Rothbart, an entrepreneur and businesswoman, is the author of The Lightness of Air, (2002), a novel based on the life of a Cape Town Holocaust survivor.
