A New York Times Editors' Choice Featured on the New York Times Paperback Row One of Jewish Week's "Books To Read This Fall" "Tova Mirvis has already established herself as a first-rate novelist with The Ladies Auxiliary, The Outside World, and Visible City. With The Book of Separation: A Memoir, Mirvis shifts genres, reveals some of the autobiographical germs of her fiction, and compellingly chronicles the process of separating from Orthodoxy...The respect for intra-Jewish difference that Mirvis models for her children--and for readers--is a precious gift to the Jewish literary world...Beautiful and poignant." --Lilith Magazine "An intimate tale of departure....[Tova Mirvis] movingly conveys the heartache that accompanies the abandonment of one way of life in search of another." --New York Times Book Review, An Editors' Choice "In this poignant memoir, Mirvis chronicles her decision, at 40, to finally listen to the voice in her head telling her to leave her religion, her marriage, and her family. She explores what it means to truly be yourself, even if it means giving up everything you've ever known." --Real Simple, "The Best New Books to Read This Month" "We've all daydreamed about walking away from it all. Mirvis actually did, after years of soldiering through a good-enough life. This is the moving story of her life, post-divorce and post-Orthodox Judaism. She's an inspiring example of living--and loving--?on your own terms." --Glamour "Capable of both wry humor and darkly apt turns of phrase, Mirvis is a gifted writer reflecting on her identity: first through the prism of organized religion, then through a self-charted life." --Chicago Tribune "A beautifully written book...in which Mirvis applies her gifts as a novelist to reveal her own struggles. And it is a profound meditation on what it means to be true to oneself, and what costs doing so may exact." --The Jewish News of Northern California "Mirvis's experience of Orthodox Judaism is vivid and particular, but her questions--about love and belonging, community and isolation, striking out into new soul terrain without a map--are universal. Luminous, unsettling and fiercely brave, Mirvis's memoir insists on a simple but earth-shattering truth: 'there are other ways to be.'" --Shelf Awareness, Starred Review "The author's sensitive thematic treatment of belonging and individuality and her candor about the terror she experienced leaving the only community she had ever known makes for moving, inspiring reading. A thoughtful, courageous memoir of family, religion, and self-discovery." --Kirkus Reviews "Mirvis intimately chronicles her divorce and her separation from modern Orthodox Judaism in this bold memoir...Hers is a story of grief and rebirth. She is compassionate and judicious in her portrayal of Orthodox Judaism, even as she describes its repressive attitudes toward women; she discusses the diverse Jewish lifestyles, from Hasidic to secular. Her personal journey makes for an introspective and fascinating story." &mda --