Kantika

"Rebecca Cohen grows up in a well-to-do family, sheltered from political turmoil in interbellum Constantinople/Istanbul, but after her father’s business is requisitioned, they fall on hard times and try their luck in Barcelona, Spain. In a land that expelled her Sephardic ancestors, a pig’s head is thrown into their garden and she adopts a Catholic name to work as a seamstress. When she moves to Queens, N.Y., for an arranged marriage, society is more welcoming, but she yearns for an idealized version of her birthplace. Kantika was inspired by the experiences of the author’s grandmother, and it’s a highly readable and poignant tale of dislocation, refuge and resilience as a Jewish woman struggles to build a new life in two foreign lands."