A Novel by Yael Mermelstein

Talented and ambitious Minnie Spivak begins as a proofreader at Lev Magazine and slowly climbs her way up the corporate ladder. In the process, she is supporting her husband in kollel ? and losing her priorities. In her mind she knows that family comes first, but when the publication pits her against a young and brilliant newcomer for the position of Editor-in-Chief, Minnie is determined to win the contest at any price.

Eliyahu Spivak has been advised by his Rav that it’s time to leave kollel and find a teaching position, but almost everyone is a rebbe in Bergenville, and leaving their neighborhood to pursue his teaching dreams isn’t an option if it means Minnie would need to leave her job, is it? Besides, if her husband is working, then what is she working to support?

Meanwhile, their daughter Tzila is hooking up with the wrong crowd just when they are desperately trying to get her into a high school, and their daughter Sorale’s strange behavior isn’t getting better on its own. Minnie and Eliyahu don’t agree on how to deal with any of these issues, and when Minnie’s parents’ marriage begins to unravel, she wonders if her own marriage will follow suit.

Chutes and Ladders ? the game resembles Minnie’s life. Thrilling successes and throbbing failures, blessings and loss, and the unexpected moments that turn everything inside out…

by Yael Mermelstein