Whisperings in the Blood (Shelley Davidow, UQP)

Shelley Davidow’s family memoir Whisperings in the Blood is a book about destiny and the way lives are shaped by inheritances passed down by previous generations. A haunting and beautiful family history, its main protagonist is Davidow’s grandmother Bertha, a determined woman who crosses the world to make her own life with a man she has never met, forsaking two marriage proposals along the way. Davidow weaves Bertha’s diaries, letters and ephemera into the narrative, and provokes the reader to reflect on the role destiny and chance play in a person’s fate. Jumping between times, places and generations, Davidow seeks out the instances of trauma that propelled her family forward, such as her great grandfather’s flight from the pogroms of Eastern Europe and her grandmother’s experiences in an American orphanage. Anyone whose family has also been marked by such losses will feel the therapeutic effect of her storytelling. Davidow’s ouvre often deals with themes of loss, trauma and displacement affecting young adults and children, and Whisperings in the Blood is a culmination not only of her own, but also her family’s experience. It will appeal to readers of family history, immigrant experiences and the Jewish diaspora.

Aron Paul is a writer and historian

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