A marvelous fiction debut–a collection of richly told, deeply moving stories about everyday life within a community of Indian Jews as its ancient culture confronts the modern world. In the mythical village of Jwalanagar, the Jewish traditions of the Bene Israel have survived for more than two thousand years, but the twentieth century brings with it modernity and cataclysmic political change. In these nineteen interconnected stories–by turns insightful, humorous, and heartbreaking; poignant, gentle, and searingly sad–we follow this community across the years as its way of life is forever altered. In “Hannah and Benjamin,” the parents of a young woman are shocked when she defies their rejection of the man she wishes to marry–but no more shocked than the man himself. In “Nathoo,” a kindly Jewish soldier and his wife adopt a Hindu boy orphaned in the post-independence violence of 1947–with disastrous results. In “Dropped from Heaven,” a mother with three unmarried daughters at home and a copy of Pride and Prejudice in her handbag springs into action when she hears that two single brothers are coming to town looking for brides. And in “Old Man Moses,” a lonely and imperious old man is visited by his Israeli grandson and the young man’s girlfriend, and finds that there is still a place in his heart for love. Sophie Judah tells these stories in a wonderfully fresh and original voice, and gives us a fascinating look at an ancient, vibrant community that now exists only in memory. Jewish communities on the eastern central coast of India, collectively called the Bene Israel, had deep historical roots. Judah organized this cycle of 19 stories to depict the history of the Bene Israel over the last century and show the effects of population decrease after the creation of the state of Israel. The most memorable stories present a fascinating picture of a community shaped by its fidelity to religious traditions and by its isolation within the larger Asian Indian ethnic and religious groups. "Shame under the Chuppah" is set in the late nineteenth century and shows a family's history rewritten when the matriarch's diaries are read after her death; "Nathoo," which takes place during the Indian-Pakistan partition, features a Bene Israel army officer's adoption of a disturbed Hindu orphan; and "The Courtship of Naomi Samuel" shows how local custom separated this small community from the religious traditions of Israeli visitors. This collection will appeal to readers of Jewish literature and to historical-fiction devotees, and may inspire searches for informational books on the Bene Israel. Ellen Loughran Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved “Sophie Judah is a natural writer, if such a thing still exists. These memories and intimations of an invisible world fall into place as we read her stories, as if we’d inhabited it before, and these half-forgotten lives were already known to us.”   –Amit Chaudhuri, author of Freedom Song   “A fascinating picture of a community shaped by its fidelity to religious traditions and by its isolation within the larger Asian Indian ethnic and religious groups. This collection will appeal to readers of Jewish literature and to historical-fiction devotees, and may inspire searches for informational books on the Bene Israel.” – Booklist   “Judah’s stories deftly capture broader historical moments and trends, and they do so from a unique perspective . . . Her prose is unadorned, but she treats her characters with deep sympathy and humanity.”    – Library Journal   “[This] debut collection spotlighting the little-known but centuries-old culture of the Bene Israel community in the author's native India [is] a fascinating mix of the exotic and the familiar.” – Kirkus Reviews (starred review)   “These nineteen stories explore the little-known Jewish community of Bene Israel in India over the course of more than a century. . . . The pieces that finish tragically are the most memorable of the collection because Judah cracks open human weakness and depicts the resulting pain. . . . The obscure intersection of India and Judaism provides Judah with rich material.” – Publishers Weekly   “ Dropped from Heaven is a beautiful book. Sophie Judah’s stories are packed with humor and sorrow, human courage and folly, and moments of unexpected grace. These pages illuminate a vanished world.” –Rachel Kadish, author of Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story Sophie Judah was born in India in 1949 and immigrated to Israel in 1973, where she lives with her husband and five children. My Friend Joseph I first met Joseph on a hospital ship returning from South Africa. We had both been wounded during the early days of the Boer War and were being shipped back home to India. I had passed a restless night. The wound in my shoulder was healing, but pain made sleep difficult. I spent my time looking out of the porthole, and I watched the horizon change colors from black to gray, to streaks of pink, orange