Beth Levy is a young girl in a household of strong women. There’s her mother, Goldie, responsible for the family and the old values; Aunt Carrie, a skilled seamstress with a secret past; and glamorous Aunt Sarah who takes Beth on summer outings to the open-air pool, hot with the promise and rebellion of sexuality. But it’s her dead Uncle Phil’s diaries which entice Beth – despite her mother’s discouragement – into a fascination with the night sky and dreams of becoming an astronomer.

The perfect antidote to the many agonized family novels currently around. This novel, about the constraints on a Jewish girl’s upbringing, is a pleasure to read

— Margaret Forster

Explores the universal conflict between individual needs and family ties with sympathy and compassion

— Clare Morrall

A fine first novel

— Jewish Post & News

A sweet, sad and compulsively readable tale that manages, along with its lovely, unbreakable characters, to soar

— Janet Gilmore