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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Let the glorious period details wash all over you—the clothes, the glamour, the excitement of New York, circa 1947. But the most remarkable achievement in NOT OUR KIND is the complex relationship between women from two different worlds that Kitty Zeldis expertly explores. The questions and prejudices that each woman has to confront are issues we are still exploring today, which makes this novel timely as well as entertaining.
I was quickly captivated by this story of two women from different words, though only blocks away. I found the characters to be realistic and engaging and the story of one that is at the same time simple and deep. Though I am usually a plot-driven reader, I found myself wholly engaged with Eleanor, Patricia, Tom, Wynn, and Margeaux. I would love to see a sequel!
NOT OUR KIND transports the reader back to 1947, to the heart of New York’s WASP-y Upper East Side. Zeldis has written a powerful and page-turning account of what happens when Eleanor–smart, beautiful, and Jewish–is employed as a tutor by the troubled Bellamy family, and finds herself out of place in their world. Can the fox and the hound ever truly be friends? This engaging novel succeeds in putting a fresh, feminine spin on that question.
Kitty Zeldis has a gift for making even the smallest details of the past shine with vivid color. The story she tells in NOT OUR KIND—of two women in post-World War II New York trying to forge lives of integrity and purpose—resonates with the struggles of women today. Compelling, frank, and all too real, NOT OUR KIND kept me reading long into the night.
Touching on the same themes as many popular novels set during World War II, this well written and engaging novel takes place in New York City two years after the war has ended. The story is set in motion when the taxicabs Eleanor Moskowitz and Patricia Bellamy are riding in get into an accident, the chance event colliding their completely different worlds together. Patricia invites Eleanor back to her apartment— a restricted building on Park Avenue—to help her calm down and gather her wits. Eleanor forms an immediate bond with Patricia’s daughter Margaux who has recently been disabled by polio. Patricia decides to hire Eleanor as Margaux’s private tutor with one condition. Patricia insists that Eleanor use Moss as her last name instead if Moskowitz. Patricia would be mortified if anyone found out she’d hired a Jew whose mother runs a hat shop. Because she feels a connection to Margaux and desperately needs the job, Eleanor concedes, but the decision makes her feel uneasy, like she’s forsaking all the unfortunate souls who perished in Europe during the war.
“The news of the camps, the tattoos, the gas chambers, the multitude of tortures tailored and perfected for Jews. Adolf Hitler had systematically tried to annihilate her people. He hadn’t succeeded, but his murderous goal made her want to ally herself more closely with those who’d survived. Moskowitz was the shorthand for the connection she felt, the thing that announced who and what she was. By giving it up, she’d be giving up a part of herself too.”
As Eleanor spends more time with the Bellamy family, her connection with both Patricia and Margaux deepens, despite the rude and often inappropriate behavior of the patriarch, Wynn Bellamy. When Wynn shows up uninvited to Eleanor’s room one night, their relationship takes a sinister turn, changing the relationship between Eleanor and the Bellamys forever. Eleanor chastises herself for thinking she could ever fit into this foreign world.
“She’d been so woefully naive, thinking she could come up here and, with the flimsy protection of an assumed name, meld seamlessly into a pattern of life that was defined by its exclusion of people like her.”
Zeldis does a commendable job exploring the anti-semitism of post war New York. The alternating viewpoints between Eleanor and Patricia affords the reader a view from both sides of the issue, fostering an understanding of why each character does the things they do and says the things they say.
I had the pleasure of hearing Kitty speak about the inspiration for this novel. As a Jew from Brooklyn, her college experience at Vassar opened her eyes to a world of anti-semitism she’d never known existed growing up. Though she enjoyed her college years, she never felt like she truly fit in, always somehow other, amongst those who were not her kind.
Kitty Zeldis is one of those rare writers who doesn’t just weave a story, she creates a world. In this case, 1947 New York — vivid, dazzling, challenging — where a young Jewish woman dares to cross the line into the land of WASP privilege, with unexpected results. With deeply human characters and resonant themes, NOT OUR KIND kept me reading well into the night.
Kitty Zeldis shakes open a map of postwar New York City and draws the reader right down onto its streets and into the lives of the women who walk them. Her characters button up their coats and march their way through that decade’s particular disasters—the polio epidemic, religious prejudice, class divisions, generalized misogyny—determined to locate power and happiness for themselves and the ones they love. Not Our Kind is a beautiful and compelling read.
Eleanor Moskowitz is stuck in a taxi in New York City during a visit from President Truman. She is without employment and is running late for a job interview for a teaching position. Her cab is hit by another vehicle leaving her with minor injuries. The other taxi’s passenger, Patricia Bellamy, feels responsible and takes her to her apartment for treatment.
Eleanor is introduced to Patricia’s thirteen-year-old daughter, Margeaux, who is crippled from polio. Because of her condition, Margeaux has been homeschooled by an inconsistent parade of tutors. The two meet and it is soon decided that Eleanor will take over her teaching responsibilities. The perfect job isn’t as great as she expected because Patricia’s husband dislikes her Jewish heritage. That bias requires her to disguise her name so other building residents won’t know her religion. During the summer, Eleanor joins the Bellamys at their Connecticut home where she forms a connection with a more liberal member of the family.
I enjoyed reading the historical fiction novel ”Not Our Kind”. It was an interesting view of New York City through the eyes of people from different backgrounds. These two women forge an unlikely friendship after they discover they are more alike than expected. I look forward to reading more books by Kitty Zeldis.
Kitty Zeldis has given us a well written and engaging novel about two women from two different worlds who are bound by their mutual love of one young girl. One rainy morning in 1947 in New York City, Eleanor Moskowitz is running late for a job interview, while Patricia Bellamy is on her way to Bergdorf Goodman to pick up something for her daughter Margaux. Their paths literally collide when Patricia’s taxi runs into the taxi Eleanor is in. As Eleanor stands in the rain, softly crying because she has missed her interview, Patricia compassionately invites her to her home to dry off and make a call.
Eleanor is Vassar educated, a teacher and Jewish while Patricia comes from an affluent life, lives on Park Avenue, and leads the life of a socialite. Normally they would never have connected, but fate has brought them together and an unlikely friendship begins. At Patricia’s home Eleanor meets 13-year-old Margaux who survived a bout of polio that left her with an atrophied leg. Margaux is too self-conscious to attend public school so has a home tutor – whom she dislikes greatly. But Eleanor and Margaux seem to have an immediate connection that Patricia cannot ignore. Hoping Eleanor can help Margaux, Patricia offers her a job. While both Patricia and Margaux are enchanted with Eleanor, that is not the case with Patricia’s husband Wynn. He makes it very clear that he does not like Eleanor because she is Jewish.
When Eleanor meets Patricia’s brother Tom there is again that moment of instant attraction. While Patricia really likes Eleanor she is not eager for her brother to be involved with a Jew. With a husband that despises Eleanor and a brother that is attracted to her, the bond between the two women is now tested. And then one night one of them cross the line and all their lives will be changed.
Written in alternating perspectives of Eleanor and Patricia, Zeldis writes of two women so different, yet so alike. Both women knew “their place” in society, a place subservient to men and clear class divisions. Under Zeldis’ masterful writing both women look inside themselves and discover who they are and what their priorities are. It was also a really insightful glimpse into the life of everyday American people shortly after the end of the war. I can hardly wait until my book club discusses it. I am sure there will be lively discussion.
Not Our Kind is a captivating story of discrimination and anti-Semitism soon after WW2. Eleanor, a young Jewish teacher and Patricia, a rich WASP, are thrown together after an accident. Patricia hires Eleanor as a tutor for her young daughter. The story is told from the viewpoints of Elanor and Patricia and it gave me a lot of insight to each character. I enjoyed reading this book! Kitty Zeldis beautifully described the clothing and scenery. Historical fiction is my favorite genre and I loved Not Our Kind!
Rich, evocative, and atmospheric, NOT OUR KIND by Kitty Zeldis is the story of two very different women whose chance meeting changes both their lives in the late 1940s New York. Zeldis weaves a beautifully written story not only about class and women’s roles, but also about love, friendship, motherhood, and coming of age. I was absolutely captivated by this stunning historical novel.
My Review of “Not Our Kind” by Kitty Zeldis Harper Collins Publishers September 4, 2018
Kitty Zeldis, Author of “Not Our Kind” had me captivated and mesmerized by her vivid and thought-provoking images and descriptions of the characters and landscape. The Genres for this Novel are Fiction, Women’s Fiction and Historical Fiction. The time period of this novel is set two years after World War Two, in both New York City and Conneticut.
The author describes her colorful cast of characters as complex and complicated possibly due to the circumstances in this story. Eleanor Moskowitz,a young Jewish teacher is headed in a taxi in New York City for a job interview. Eleanor is a Vassar graduate, and has left her other teaching job for personal reasons. It is raining, and traffic is exceptionally slow. Suddenly another cab, hits the taxi that Eleanor is in. Eleanor’s lip is bleeding, and now it looks like Eleanor has missed her interview. It seems like fate when a kind stranger steps in. Little does Eleanor realize how this encounter will change her life forever. Patricia Bellamy invites Eleanor to her home which is close by.
Patricia Bellamy is a wealthy, attractive and stylish woman. She lives in a dignified, elegant, older deluxe apartment house on Park Avenue. Patricia is a WASP, and hasn’t had Jewish people come to her apartment. Margaux Bellamy, her young daughter has recently recovered from Polio, and is left with a disfigured leg and limp. Margaux’s last tutor has resigned, and now a new one is needed. Margaux likes Eleanor immediately and requests that her mother hire her as a tutor.
Eleanor feels uncomfortable in Patricia’s home. Eleanor’s mother is a gifted hat-maker, and they live in smaller crowded dwellings. Eleanor somehow feels an attachment to Margaux and takes the job. Eleanor now finds that she is using the last name Moss instead of Moskowitz, when she enters the building. Another problem is that Patricia’s husband is anti-semitic.
Kitty Zeldis has written a novel that makes one think. I appreciate that the author writes about significant problems of the historical period, the aftermath of the war, the epidemic of Polio , differences in class, and religion, and discrimination. Is it possible for people from different backgrounds to be friends? The author also discusses family, traditions, friendship, love and hope. I loved everything about this book and highly recommend this to readers who enjoy the historical time period after World War Two, and the set of challenges it presents. I received an Advanced Reading Edition from the Publisher for my honest review.
typical snobby people suffering young women
In this day and time (1940s) it shows misunderstanding of people who are Christian and the Jewish girl who comes to tutor their daughter. Hopefully we have grown from that way of thinking!
I certainly thought this book was going to be a formulaic telling of attitudes in the 50’s/60’s but it definitely turned out more interesting than I thought. You wish at the end you could have Eleanor’s story continue to see how her future turns out.
This book was an education on being Jewish in the early to mid twentieth century in the north. The characters were believable and evoked righteous indignation, keeping the reader engaged.
Great story. Kept me engaged to the end. Highly recommend.
This book is great. I couldn’t stop reading because I wanted to know what would happen with the characters. I loved Eleanor and Tom. I hated Wynn. I would like a continuation telling the readers what happened with each character later.
An average book that I don’t recommend.
A excellent read that reminds us of the serious prejudices against the Jewish people in the 1950’s.