Books like Safekeeping by Jessamyn Hope

When Adam, a drug‑addicted New Yorker, steps onto the fields of an Israeli kibbutz in 1994 carrying a medieval sapphire brooch, he is thrust into a web of past and present redemption. The brooch, a priceless heirloom, belongs to a woman his grandfather—then a Holocaust refugee—deeply loved on the kibbutz five decades earlier. Adam’s arrival coincides with a gathering of troubled souls all seeking a fresh start: Ulya, an ambitious Soviet emigré; Farid, a lovelorn Palestinian farmhand; Claudette, a French‑Canadian Catholic with obsessive‑compulsive tendencies; Ofir, an Israeli teenager scarred by a bus bombing; and Ziva, the seasoned Zionist socialist who founded the kibbutz. Through charged interactions and shared struggles, each character confronts their past, tests their limits, and finds a new path toward personal redemption. By the summer’s end, the bonds forged among them lift them toward a collective and individual sense of closure, illustrating how shared histories and compassionate communities can transform lives.

First publish date: 2014