“In Klepper’s debut novel, a stay-at-home mom longing for greater purpose returns to work as a pro bono lawyer and finds herself representing a Syrian refugee seeking asylum… A poignant exploration of a timely political topic.” Kirkus Reviews “A terrific debut, and so very timely. With smart writing and compassion, Klepper offers us a look into the hearts of two women: a Syrian immigrant … immigrant hoping to find a home in the USA, and the volunteer lawyer whose work brings a second chance at life not only to her client, but to herself as well.” Julie Lawson Timmer, author of “Mrs. Saint and the Defectives”
Jessica Donnelly’s life is beginning to unravel. When the attorney turned stay-at-home mom tentatively volunteers to represent Amina Hamid, a woman seeking asylum, Jessica must learn an unfamiliar area of the law. Soon, rising opposition to Muslim immigration and unexpected prejudices put her relationships on shaky ground.
Amina fled Syria with little more than memories that now fight against the images splashed on the news. Seeking a secure future and freedom from guilt and grief, she must learn to trust others amidst the reality of fear and hate.
To find stability, Jessica and Amina will both need to harness their own strengths, which may lie in connections that transcend generations, cultures, and continents.
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UNBROKEN THREADS by Jennifer Klepper is a compelling and thought-provoking novel about family and immigration into the United States. The story is told from the points of view of two women – Amina, a Syrian refugee seeking asylum in the US and Jessica, a lawyer turned stay-at-home mom, who is volunteering at a non-profit organization that helps refugees through the legal process. The relationship between Amina and Jessica gets off to a rough start, but eventually develops into a mutually strong and caring bond once they are able to shed their biases, mistrust and fear. The character development is excellent and the immigrant experience is told with honesty and empathy. I was totally drawn into this powerful and timely debut novel and look forward to reading future books by Jennifer Klepper.
An extremely timely novel in this world of uncertainty.
Kudos to Jennifer Klepper, Author of “Unbroken Threads” for such a unique, contemporary, emotional, intense, captivating, riveting, and enthralling novel. Jennifer Kleeper has vividly described some issues that have made me reflect and think after reading her novel. The Genres for this novel are Fiction and Women’s Fiction. The timeline of the story is in the present and goes to the past when it pertains to the characters or events in the story.
The author describes her colorful cast of characters as complex and complicated. Jessica Donnelly has three active children , a Golden doodle running around, and a successful husband. Jessica is an attorney that has not practiced law at years, and not certain what her goals should be. Jessica volunteers to represent women that want to stay in this country, using her legal skills. What she never imagines is that her first client is a less than eager women, Amina Hamid, requesting asylum. With the political climate the way it is, Jessica is facing all kinds of feedback and some is from her family. At times there is danger.
I appreciate the way the author has done her research on the Muslim community. Jennifer Klepper writes her story in such a dignified and professional way. I highly recommend this novel for readers that appreciate contemporary issues and individual growth. I also like that the author discusses important topics such as family, communication, love, support and hope.
The story of an Attorney helping a Syrian refugee to attain asylum in the U.S. Life, love, struggles are revealed in their personal lives; as well as prejudices arise – when people fail to get to know individuals that are in reality no different than themselves. A very thought provoking, historical and motivational story by Jennifer Klepper, that is certain to be familiar and current in today’s state of affairs by anyone that reads it.
Jennifer Klepper expertly weaves the tales of two women from two different worlds in this novel about reinvention and renewal. At moments funny, heart-warming, and heart-breaking, this is a strong debut. I highly recommend this book and can’t wait to see what’s next from this author!
Unbroken Threads is a very timely thought provoking novel about family, immigration and the Syrian refugee crisis. The story is told from the point of view of Jessica, a lawyer/stay at home mom who volunteers to take on the immigration case of Amina, a Syrian refugee. Jessica is also executor of her grandmother’s estate. When the stress of the case starts to overwhelm her, she starts sorting through boxes of her grandmother’s belongings.
Amina’s story was very eye opening for me. I’ve watched new segments on the Syrian refugee crisis but learning about Amina as her story unfolded really made me stop and think. Jennifer Klepper has written a solid debut and I can’t wait to see what she writes next!
I don’t often say this, but Jennifer Klepper’s novel, Unbroken Threads is an important book. Author Klepper, who gave up being an attorney to write, has provided a thoughtful and multi-faceted view of the immigrant experience. Protagonist, Jessica Donnelly, has taken a break from practicing law to take care of her husband and three children. In a tentative step toward re-entering the professional world, Jessica takes on a client, Amina, pro bono. Amina is seeking asylum from Syria and the horrors she has left behind. In the telling, Klepper takes us places we may not want to go as the story of Amina’s experience in the United States mirrors so much about current society – our fears, our prejudices, our knee-jerk responses.
Unbroken Threads takes us places we may not want to go as the story of Amina’s experience in the United States mirrors so much about current society – our fears, our prejudices, our knee-jerk responses. Klepper skillfully contrasts the experience of the two women as they work toward a common goal, and share common experiences which opens them both to new realities. Yes, this book is keenly crafted. Yes, it is a read that doesn’t allow you to comfortably step away from until the end. But most important for me, is that Jennifer Klepper bravely puts forward a story of our time, a story that has taken courage to write.
Ending took an interesting turn I wasn’t expecting…good read!
Unbroken Threads delivers an honest and intimate portrayal of the American response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis. By turns harrowing and heartwarming, it’s a powerful and important novel that book clubs and discussion groups will relish.
A terrific debut, and so very timely. With smart writing and compassion, Klepper offers us a look into the hearts of two women: a Syrian immigrant hoping to find a home in the USA, and the volunteer lawyer whose work brings a second chance at life not only to her client, but to herself as well.
When attorney turned stay at home mom, Jessica Donnelly agreed to take on a pro-bono case at the urging of a friend she thought it might help her get back in the game. Her client, Amina Hamid, a Syrian refugee seeking asylum was planning to manage her own case. They had no idea how much they would transform each other lives. The relationship that develops between the women forces them to acknowledge and overcome their bias and fears and examine themselves and their other relationships. This story is emotional, thought-provoking, and beautifully written. It drew me in from the first few lines and kept me enthralled until the end.
Unbroken Threads was a good read by Jennifer Klepper. Jessica Donnelly’s life is unraveling. She is an attorney, turned stay at home mom who hesitantly volunteers to represent Amina Hamid. She is a woman seeking asylum from Syria. This area of law is unfamiliar for her and she must learn it. Her relationships end up on shaky ground with the rising opposition to Muslim immigrations. Amina only has her memories and must fight the images all over the news. She has to learn to trust others oven through fear and hate. Jessica and Amina harness their own strengths that seem connected. I enjoyed reading this book and cant wait to read more by the author.
In this poignant debut novel, a refugee from Syria and the lawyer who volunteers to represent her seek common ground and mutual understanding to bridge the vast differences that separate them. With deftly crafted, believable characters and a timely topic, UNBROKEN THREADS tackles a difficult subject with compassion, offering a story that is both warmhearted and optimistic. I look forward to whatever Jennifer Klepper offers next.
I loved reading this book. I am so happy I chose to read such a heartful packed story….. I also need to tell you I have been unable to purchase books on your new sight.. I can’t figure how to use it???
Help, dottie0928@ q,com
good reads
I liked it. Already reviewed it. This is duplicate
Amazing book….!!
In Unbroken Threads (Red Adept Publishing 2018), debut author Jennifer Klepper writes with much thought, insight, compassion, and eloquence about two vastly different women drawn together into a cautious friendship after a difficult, failed first meeting. One of the women is a privileged, well-to-do American do-gooder. The other is a Syrian refugee struggling to get a toehold on a new life in the USA after losing everything in her home country.
Jessica Donnelly, who left her big-firm high-power lawyer career years before to raise her three children, volunteers to help a Syrian refuge with her application for asylum in the United States. After offering to help without pay as a result of some pressure from an old law school friend, Jessica is insecure with her own skills and initially put off by the refugee’s hijab and foreignness.
The refugee, Amina Harnid, is not impressed with Jessica when they first meet—and with good cause as both Jessica’s unease with a Muslim in a hijab and her lack of experience with immigration law are both painfully obvious to Amina. Quite quickly, Amina breaks off the contact and leaves the meeting. Plagued with guilt over the failed meeting, Jessica worries over her own reaction to Amina and resolves to woo her back as a client. It takes a leap of faith on both women’s part, but Amina finally agrees to allow Jessica to help her with the extensive, complicated procedure in seeking asylum. The portions of the story dealing with the asylum procedures are educational and eye-opening.
Not only does Jessica have to confront her own prejudices, she must win over her husband—who opposes her work on behalf of Syrian refugees from a combination of his fear for Jessica and his own prejudices. Jessica also confronts physical danger as a result of her association with Amina. She is also dealing with a remote, even angry, teenage son and boxes of heirlooms that crowd her spacious house sent to her by her late grandmother. Jessica feels the loss of closeness with her children keenly now that they are older and need her less. But she feels this most acutely with her teen son, observing that “These one-on-one moments had been precious bonding times when he was five or eight, but now they felt tinged with the desperation of a mother who could see a door still ajar but couldn’t get it before it closed.”
Jessica is a compelling character, no doubt. But it is Amina who really garnered my greatest interest and sympathy in the story, and I venture to guess it will be the same with most readers. After all, Amina is a refugee, Assad’s men assaulted her mother in Syria, tortured her father, killed her brother, and kidnapped her husband. Amina is an accountant but babysits and works in a relative’s restaurant now because she cannot produce transcripts to prove her education. Amina observes that Jessica “would never understand …the tense instability of life as a refugee.”
The story has moments of tension involving physical danger, and, of course, and the tensions in Jessica’s marriage add a layer to the story also. But the courage and the back story of Amina dominate (at least in this reader’s mind) and create the real power of this story. This is an important book—it is well informed, intelligent, wonderful well written, and sympathetic. The language is crisp, clear and often rather lyrical. The underlying messages of helping each other, forgiveness, connection, and empathy resonate strongly throughout. This is the kind of book I wish everyone could read for its sincere eye-opening compassion.
I read this book in a day. Forced me to rethink my attitude toward a few things. READ IT!!
This is one of the best books I’ve read all year. It’s definitely one of those books that I want my daughters and friends to read. It reveals generational stories of strong women who live their lives quietly yet impacting many others. It deals with universal issues of partnerships, motherhood, loss, identity, immigration issues and the everyday fears that women deal with throughout their life. “Finding your place” whether it’s a stay at home Mom with children gaining their independence or a female asylum seeker from a war torn country. There is the issue of women feeling as if their life has been shrinking. The beauty of very different women expanding their worlds and relationships on various levels was inspiring. It was never preachy. This beautifully layered story hit ever note pitch perfect. I was fondly reminded of Jodi Picoult. If you enjoy reading a book where you felt your worldview was challenged and expanded (all the while every viewpoint was represented) this is your book!
The Narrator for this book was excellent and I look forward to more of her work.
**I received a free copy of this book in lieu of an honest review.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.