With echoes of Rules of Civility and The Boston Girl, a compelling and thought-provoking novel set in postwar New York City, about two women—one Jewish, one a WASP—and the wholly unexpected consequences of their meeting.
One rainy morning in June, two years after the end of World War II, a minor traffic accident brings together Eleanor Moskowitz and Patricia Bellamy. Their encounter seems fated: … Their encounter seems fated: Eleanor, a teacher and recent Vassar graduate, needs a job. Patricia’s difficult thirteen-year-old daughter Margaux, recovering from polio, needs a private tutor.
Though she feels out of place in the Bellamys’ rarefied and elegant Park Avenue milieu, Eleanor forms an instant bond with Margaux. Soon the idealistic young woman is filling the bright young girl’s mind with Shakespeare and Latin. Though her mother, a hat maker with a little shop on Second Avenue, disapproves, Eleanor takes pride in her work, even if she must use the name “Moss” to enter the Bellamys’ restricted doorman building each morning, and feels that Patricia’s husband, Wynn, may have a problem with her being Jewish.
Invited to keep Margaux company at the Bellamys’ country home in a small town in Connecticut, Eleanor meets Patricia’s unreliable, bohemian brother, Tom, recently returned from Europe. The spark between Eleanor and Tom is instant and intense. Flushed with new romance and increasingly attached to her young pupil, Eleanor begins to feel more comfortable with Patricia and much of the world she inhabits. As the summer wears on, the two women’s friendship grows—until one hot summer evening, a line is crossed, and both Eleanor and Patricia will have to make important decisions—choices that will reverberate through their lives.
Gripping and vividly told, Not Our Kind illuminates the lives of two women on the cusp of change—and asks how much our pasts can and should define our futures.
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As a Jewish girl at Vassar in the early 50’s I found this book unearthed so many memories. A heroine I could relate to although my mother was gentile. It was so real. The experiences, seeking understanding of those activities, the thoughts, brought back my own struggles to understand my place in the world.
It’s sad that prejudice goes so deep in the US
I love reading historical fiction, and for some reason, I found this one to be rather anti-climatic.
“You make the world you want to live in. Not the other way around.” I haven’t read a historical fiction in awhile and am so happy I was lucky enough to read this one! I loved how Zeldis went into the worlds of these two, very different, women as they navigate their lives following WWII and let us see the inner struggles of a marriage; the life of a Jewish woman trying to survive as a single woman; and the desire for friendships that were frowned upon, all while taking place in the setting of New York. This story was a refreshing take on women trying to break free of stereotypes and follow their own desires and not what society tells them is right. We’ve come a long way, Baby! A great bookclub book filled with discussions.
I am not usually a fan of post war era books but this one grabbed me. Two women working together and becoming friends yet the prejudices of class and religion stand between them. It’s an informative and educating story of how they overcame those obstacles.
Kitty Zeldis creates an intriguing story about Eleanor Moskowitz, an educated young Jewish woman who’s a teacher and lives on Second Avenue in New York City, and Patricia Bellamy, a high society WASP who lives on Park Avenue. These two women’s lives and worlds couldn’t be further apart, and she takes you on their journey and what it was like living in New York City postwar 1947 describing how social and economic divisions were in that time period.
Patricia hires Eleanor to tutor her thirteen-year-old daughter, Margaux. Margaux was struck by the Polio epidemic that left her leg crippled and, as a result, she is tutored at home. Margaux can be quite difficult at times, mostly due to the insecurities she developed due to the effects of the disease and her dislike of her previous tutors. Patricia is worried about what her family and society friends will think because she hired a Jewish woman even though she is extremely happy with the effect she has on Margaux. Eleanor is asked to join the Bellamy family to their summer home in Connecticut to continue tutoring Margaux. At first, Eleanor and Patricia are polite, cordial and begin to form a bond, but their relationship soon plummets.
Adding to the story are Tom, Patricia’s brother, who is instantly attracted to Eleanor, and Wynn, Patricia’s husband, who dislikes Eleanor due to her heritage. Eleanor soon learns that she can’t live with this dysfunctional family and can no longer be in their employ. It takes Patricia to realize that her bond with Eleanor began with Margaux, and whatever animosity she felt toward her she needs to correct.
Zeldis does an incredible job describing the role of women in the past, religious animosity, class division, the family dynamic, and she explores what it was like living in different ethnic communities in that era. I thoroughly enjoyed this historical fiction story, and I loved the way she describes the City. I also enjoyed Eleanor’s character who is very sophisticated, extremely mature for her age, and knows exactly the right thing to say. I highly recommend this book.
Not Our Kind is a riveting story featuring two women: a young Jewish girl and the rich woman who hires her to tutor her young daughter. The book takes place in New York City in 1947 and the author does an excellent job of putting the reader in that time and place. The characters in this book are complex and interesting, as they deal with friendships and relationships that are tainted with bigotry and misogyny. This is a very thought-provoking novel which kept my interest from the first page through the last.