Crescent City, by Belva Plain

Historical fiction/romance set in New Orleans, Louisiana and a plantation near New Orleans prior to and during the American Civil War.
Miriam's mother had been brutally attacked in a pogrom against Jewish villagers in a small German town, and tragically died moments after Miriam's birth. Her father left shortly afterward to make his fortune in America, leaving Miriam and her brother David with their grandfather and spinster aunt. Years later, he returned and took the children to his grand home in New Orleans. At the age of 16, as was the custom at that time, Miriam was given in marriage to Eugene, a man at least ten years older. Miriam and Eugene doted on their twins, a son and a daughter, but there was no love, no joy between them. They lived separate lives in the same house, even in the same bedroom.
These were perilous times; abolitionist feelings against the "peculiar institution" of slavery were mounting, and soon the storm of Civil War broke loose. There was a storm in Miriam's heart as well, as she dealt with guilt, loss, tragedy, and heartbreak. February 13, 2018

Dark Mirror: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Jewish Iconography. by Sara Lipton

Reviewed in September, 2014

Received from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program (LTER)

I was excited to receive this book in the mail yesterday! I want to express appreciation now to Henry Holt and Company for sending it to me as part of the LT Early Reviewers program. I am looking forward to reading it, as I am reading Jews, God and History by Max I. Dimont and the National Geographic's booklet, Inside the Medieval World. Medieval history is a subject I have known little or nothing of, and have been curious about it. Also, as a conservative Christian, I have a deep respect for the Jewish people as God's Chosen People, forever.
I will be undergoing knee replacement surgery and physical therapy/rehabilitation next week and for the next few weeks, and don't know if I will feel like reading such deep subject matter. I hope the Early Reviewers program will not penalize me if I don't follow up with a "real" review for awhile.

Confession: This is still on my nightstand, unfinished. I want to read it; I want to learn about the history of the beginnings of anti-Semitism. This is a very deep and studious work, and there are too many fiction novels tempting me.

The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant

Read and reviewed in April, 2004; no longer in my possession

is a fictional account of Dinah, a Biblical character from the book of Genesis, Jacob's only daughter. It was informative to read of the customs of Old Testament women, but the plot strayed a little too far from Scripture for my taste. Read purely as fiction, it was fascinating, and I must say I enjoyed it.