Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan by Ruth Gilligan

At the start of the twentieth century, a young girl and her family emigrate from Lithuania in search of a better life in America, only to land on the Emerald Isle instead. In 1958, a mute Jewish boy locked away in a mental institution outside of Dublin forms an unlikely friendship with a man consumed by the story of the love he lost nearly two decades earlier. And in present-day London, an Irish journalist is forced to confront her conflicting notions of identity and family when her Jewish boyfriend asks her to make a true leap of faith. These three arcs, which span generations and intertwine in revelatory ways, come together to tell the haunting story of Ireland's all-but-forgotten Jewish community. Ruth Gilligan's beautiful and heartbreaking Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan explores the question of just how far we will go to understand who we really are, and to feel at home in the world.

Our book group meets monthly to discuss the book of the month! Each month's book is from Book Club in a Box, a program of the Jewish Community Library of San Francisco, which provides copies of our chosen books which can be borrowed from the temple office. Pick up your copy, read it, then come to the temple and enjoy a spirited conversation about it!