City of Laughter

Fruchter’s layered debut examines Jewish folklore, queerness, and the weight of family secrets. Thirty-one-year-old Shiva Margolin is reeling from her father’s recent death and the end of her first queer relationship. At loose ends, she goes back to school to study Jewish folklore. Under the guise of studying, she goes to Warsaw, located near Ropshitz, once known as the City of Laughter, where her grandmother Mira grew up. Here Shiva comes into her own, uncovering mysteries that have connected the women of her family for generations. Mara Wilson narrates Shiva and the generations who came before her—her mother Hannah, maternal grandmother Syl, and Mira, about whom no one speaks. Wilson communicates the women’s struggles, living in silence and hoping to be themselves in a world where that is not always allowed.