"Intimately imagined, lyrically written, and rich with historical detail, Kantika weaves forced displacement, wild reinvention and triumphant healing into a big, border-crossing family saga. Marvelous!"
–Gish Jen, author of Thank You, Mr. Nixon
"Both epic and heartfelt,
Kantika belongs in the company of the great twentieth-century immigrant Jewish writers, such as Saul Bellow, Cynthia Ozick, Grace Paley, and Henry Roth."
–Joshua Henkin, author of
Morningside Heights "A gorgeous accomplishment. In intimate and inventive prose, Elizabeth Graver carries us to the vibrantly drawn streets of Constantinople, Barcelona, Havana and New York. We follow her remarkable characters through grief and hope, and into human connections as delicate as they are profound. This is a novel to get lost in."
–Rachel Kadish, author of
The Weight of Ink "This utterly captivating novel illuminates how one family's history
is history. Astonishing work, reminiscent, to my mind, of the best of the great Italian writer Elsa Morante.
"–Peter Orner, author of
Maggie Brown & Others "From the first page, I was swept up and carried along on the migrations of an unforgettable family.
Kantika is a gripping story of 20th-century Sephardic exile and reinvention and the longing for homes, both old and new."
–Tova Mirvis, author of
The Book of Separation "In gorgeous detail, this epic family story restores a lost time and place.
Kantika is both an immigrant tale and a hero's journey as Graver's extraordinary characters–first among them the indomitable Rebecca–travel between worlds and find ways to refashion their lives."
–Allegra Goodman, author of
Sam "Kantika is a beautiful, moving and splendidly entertaining evocation of a lost world. Elizabeth Graver looks back at family history with a novelist's eye and a poet's empathy."
–John Banville, author of
The Singularities
