Jumping Over Shadows

“In this extraordinary work, Annette Gendler illuminates the borders and meeting points between Judaism and Christianity, Germans and Jews, American Jews and Israeli Jews. Writing with eloquent precision, she reminds us why converts to Judaism are among the most precious gifts to the Jewish people. This book confirms Annette Gendler as an indispensable Jewish voice for our time.”
—Yossi Klein Halevi, author of Like Dreamers, Senior fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem

History was repeating itself when Annette Gendler fell in love with a Jewish man in Germany in 1985. Her Great-Aunt Resi had been married to a Jew in Czechoslovakia before World War II—a marriage that, while happy, created tremendous difficulties for the extended family once the Nazis took over their hometown in 1938, and ultimately did not survive the pressures of the time. Annette and Harry’s love, meanwhile, was the ultimate nightmare for Harry’s family of Holocaust survivors.

Weighed down by the burdens of their family histories, Annette and Harry kept their relationship secret for three years, until they could forge a path into the future and create a new life in Chicago. As time went on, however, Annette found a spiritual home in Judaism—a choice that paved the way toward acceptance by Harry’s family, and redemption for some of the wounds of her own family’s past.

Author: Annette Gendler

Publication Date: April 4, 2017

Categories: Memoir, Spring 2017

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About the Author

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2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist in Relationship (Non-Fiction)

“Interwoven with the story of Gendler’s great-aunt and illustrated with family photographs, the author’s story offers an intimate and interesting . . . look at one woman’s life choices and their outcomes . . . [a] candid and heartfelt memoir.”
—Kirkus

“Piercing. The silver lining of hope, faith, and healing will leave readers stirred.”
—Redbook Magazine

“In this extraordinary work, Annette Gendler illuminates the borders and meeting points between Judaism and Christianity, Germans and Jews, American Jews and Israeli Jews. Writing with eloquent precision, she reminds us why converts to Judaism are among the most precious gifts to the Jewish people. This book confirms Annette Gendler as an indispensable Jewish voice for our time.”
—Yossi Klein Halevi, author of Like Dreamers, Senior fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem

“The ghosts of the past haunt a woman’s search for herself in this thoughtful, poignant memoir about the transformative power of love and faith.”
—Hillary Jordan, author of Mudbound and When She Woke

“Jumping Over Shadows is a compelling, gracefully written memoir about the impact of the past on the present. The narrative is centered on the author and her future husband’s secret love affair as it bears on their struggle to come to terms with their families’ tragic personal histories. An intimate, dramatic, and profoundly human story.”
—Michael Steinberg, Author of Still Pitching, Founding Editor of Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction

About the Author

Annette Gendler is a writer and photographer. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Tablet Magazine, Bella Grace, and Artful Blogging, to name a few. She served as the 2014–2015 writer-in-residence at the Hemingway Birthplace Home in Oak Park, Illinois. Born in New Jersey, she grew up in Munich, Germany, and lives in Chicago with her husband and three children. Visit her at www.annettegendler.com.