Interviews of Meryl Ain
The Storytellers, hosted by Grace Sammon
Author Discussion Series, Hampton Synagogue
New Books Network
Meryl Ain’s Shadows We Carry (Sparkspress, 2023) is a follow-up to the author’s 2020 novel, The Takeaway Men, focuses on fraternal twins Bronka and JoJo Lubinski, now in college and figuring out what to do with their lives. Beginning with the assassination of President Kennedy, we watch the sisters navigate social upheaval, family expectations, and all the usual aspects of growing up, but they were born in a DP camp after WW2 and are children of Holocaust Survivors, now referred to as “Second – Generation Survivors.”
Nice Jewish Books Podcast (an Association of Jewish Libraries Podcast)
Twins JoJo and Bronka are coming of age in the United States in the 1960s. Daughters of Orthodox Jewish parents, they both have dreams and ambitions; JoJo of becoming an actress and Bronka of becoming an journalist. But shadows follow them: their parents’ holocaust experience, US politics, neo-Nazis, sexism, and an unplanned pregnancy. Join me for a conversation with Meryl Ain, author of the Shadows We Carry.
Stories That Empower Podcast
Having experienced life setbacks, Meryl chose not to allow herself to be stuck or feel like a victim. She reinvented herself multiple times and enabled herself to be empowered. Meryl shares a dozen nuggets of life wisdom.
Nathan & Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center
Join award-winning author and educator Dr. Meryl Ain as she is interviewed by Dr. Rachel Baum, Deputy Director of the Sam & Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies at UWM.
Media about Meryl Ain & Her Novels
‘Shadows We Carry’ Reviewed by Pikasho Deka for Readers’ Favorite
A sequel to Meryl Ain’s award-winning historical fiction novel The Takeaway Men, Shadows We Carry follows the life of the daughters of Holocaust survivors Aron and Judy Lubinski, who migrated to the United States after the war. Fraternal twins Bronka and JoJo Lubinski chase their dreams of becoming a journalist and an actress, respectively.
‘Shadows We Carry’ Shows the Repercussions of the Holocaust and the Feminist Movement of the 1960s
Every year, new movies, plays and books about the Holocaust come out. However, not many of these works focus on what happened to people after the Holocaust. How did it affect the survivors? How did families come to terms with what happened to them?
Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb
Meryl Ain is the author of the new novel Shadows We Carry. It’s a sequel to her novel The Takeaway Men. She is also the host of the People of the Book podcast, and she lives in New York
Commack author explores story of survival in post-Holocaust historical fiction book
Meryl Ain is a Jewish author from Commack who recently published a post-Holocaust historical fiction book.
“Shadows We Carry” follows the daughters of a Holocaust survivor as they navigate the women’s rights movement of the late 1960s.
The book includes local ties, including a fictional version of the real Nazi Youth Camp in Yaphank.
Meryl Ain on “Shadows We Carry.”
The twins Bronka and JoJo Lubinski are at the center of Shadows We Carry (Spark Press, $17.95), a post-Holocaust novel set in the 1960’s that grapples with the insidious power of long-held family secrets, and the confusion of religious identities and bloodlines.
Author Meryl Ain talks to Fiction Editor Yona Zeldis McDonough about how the scars of World War II played out in the revolutionary societal changes of the time.
Commack resident pens coming-of-age novel, ‘Shadows We Carry’
Meryl Ain’s debut novel, The Takeaway Men (2020), focused on immigrants Aron and Edyta (Judy) Lubinksi and their twin daughters, Bronka and Johanna. Refugees from Hitler’s Europe, the family settles with Aron’s cousins in Bellerose, Queens.
Shadows We Carry
Shadows We Carry opens with the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. It’s a defining moment in history, and, as Bronka Lubinski astutely comments, “Nothing will ever be the same again.” The novel is Meryl Ain’s sequel to The Takeaway Men, but it can certainly be appreciated as a standalone read. It deftly and engagingly illustrates the effects of the societal changes and upheavals of the 1960s and 70s.
Judy and Aron Lubinski, both Holocaust survivors, and their fraternal twin daughters, who were born in a DP camp, all carry deep family secrets from their past lives as they struggle to assimilate to American life in Queens, NY.
Twelve of the Most Anticipated Books of Fall
Most will probably agree that summer 2020 has been the longest, most difficult summer ever. But now we can look forward to a new season as fall is upon us! And with a new season, comes new books! We’ve got a couple celebrity authors here – actor Lou Diamond Phillips and celebrity doctor Ian K. Smith have penned some very interesting reads. From murder mysteries, thrillers, sci-fi fantasy and romance to a memoir from a guy who made commercials his whole life, there’s something on this list for every type of reader!
‘The Takeaway Men’: Local rabbi’s mom chooses post-Holocaust theme for first novel
Meryl Ain’s debut novel, “The Takeaway Men,” which follows a Polish Jewish family newly arrived in America in 1951, raises more questions than it delivers answers. And that’s just what the author intended.
17 New Books To Read Before Summer Ends
If you’ve been daydreaming about a trip to the waterpark or a backyard BBQ with your largest group of friends, odds are you’re itching for something to keep you busy this summer. Take a break from reality and relax with a great new book.
Book Review: The Takeaway Men
This is an important and fresh addition to the story of Jews in the aftermath of the Shoah….Ain builds a layered world of many different characters to create a complex, difficult, and well-researched novel around the identity of the Jewish community following the Holocaust and the problems and debates it faced.
5 Star Book Review: The Takeaway Men
All too often, books focus on what happens to people persecuted by the Nazis during the war, but I rarely find a novel that tells the story of what happens to a family after liberation . . . I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction…
A Debut Novel Is a Double Take on Holocaust Memory
Meryl Ain’s “The Takeaway Men,” set in 1950s Queens, centers on a very different pair of twins.
15 Summer Releases for Your #TBR List
It’s finally summertime! And even though a lot of us are stuck at home, that doesn’t mean we can’t find some time in our busy schedules to take a break. Let these anticipated summer releases drift you away to a literary vacation full of adventure, heartbreak, and romance.
Book Review: The Takeaway Men
Meryl Ain’s The Takeaway Men (SparkPress) is an exceptional and vibrant first novel. It is the story of Aron and Edyta Lubinsky and their twin daughters Bronka and Johanna. It is a tale of painful secrets and complicated histories. It shows the shift in the United States and in the free world from the desire to find justice for the victims of the Nazi’s genocide to the paranoia surrounding the Red Scare during the Cold War. But The Takeaway Men is also a portrait of the power of love and the ability of family to embrace and heal.