Blog Tour: “Where Do I Go?” by Beverly Magid – Review & Giveaway!
Where Do I Go? by Beverly Magid
Publication Date: October 9, 2017
BeWrite Press
Paperback & eBook; 138 Pages
Genre: Fiction/Historical/Jewish
It’s 1908 and Leah and her boys have immigrated to New York’s Lower East Side to live with her brothers after surviving a pogrom in their Russian village. She is determined to find a home in America but the conditions are harsher than she expected. The garment sweat shops are brutal to work in and it’s essential that her son Benny works after school to help with expenses. Unbeknownst to her he runs errands for the local bookie/gangster. Life isn’t what Leah hoped for, but she’s a fighter and not willing to accept the awful conditions at Wollowitz’s Factory. She’s on a journey to find her own voice, to find a place for herself and her sons, to find a little beauty and romance in her life.
Available in Paperback and eBook on Amazon
Review
My original interest was piqued in this book since I love historical fiction. I haven’t read too many novels focusing on immigrants in the 1900s and the synopsis intrigued me.
The novel is set in the early 1900s on the Lower East Side of New York. The main character, Leah, is a Jewish woman who has moved to New York from Russia for a better life with new opportunities in America as most people did at that time. While she is glad for her family’s new freedom she suffers to make ends meet by working in harsh conditions.
The book is written in multiple povs giving readers different views of how immigrants felt, what they saw, and the jobs that they worked on a daily basis. There was great attention to detail, making story feel realistic. I felt that I could get a good sense of the era. I also could feel the high emotions running through these people’s minds. How would they put food on the table and provide for their family? Sweatshop bosses and greedy businessman took advantage of Leah’s family due to their naivete and lack of English skills. It was so unfair and it made me angry to know that these hard-working, kind-hearted people were being taken advantage of.
Magrid is a wonderful storyteller and pulls the reader into the story. the book is very engaging, but at times it’s also hard to read due to the harsh realities of sweat shop workers that are described in the book. Seeing Leah and her family struggle to make ends meet was heartbreaking.
Where Do I Go? is such a short book at just under 200 pages, but it still packs a powerful punch. The book makes you appreciate what you have in life and not to take it for granted. It also illustrated just how far labor laws have come since those days. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I felt the narrative was strong and I was invested in the character’s stories.
Final Verdict:
About the Author
Beverly Magid, before writing her novel, was a journalist and an entertainment and celebrity PR executive, who interviewed many luminaries, including John Lennon, Jim Croce and the Monty Python gang, and as a publicist represented clients in music, tv and film, ranging from Whoopi Goldberg, John Denver and Dolly Parton to Tom Skerritt, Martin Landau, Kathy Ireland and Jacqueline Bisset.
Beverly is a longtime west coast resident who still considers herself a New Yorker. Among the social issues she’s passionate about is literacy and she worked with KorehLA to mentor elementary children in reading. Also she has been an advocate for Jewish World Watch, an organization dedicated to working against genocide and to aid the victims of war atrocities. On a lighter side, she is also a volunteer at the Los Angeles Zoo, monitoring animal behavior for their Research Department.
She is a news and political junkie who supports environmental, animal and human rights issues. She believes most passionately that “We must remain vigilant to the those who would erode the rights of people around the world and work to defeat them.”
For more information, please visit Beverly Magid’s website. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.
Blog Tour Schedule
Monday, January 15
Review at Donna’s Book Blog
Feature at What Is That Book About
Tuesday, January 16
Guest Post at My Reading Corner
Wednesday, January 17
Excerpt at WS Momma Readers Nook
Monday, January 22
Review at Locks, Hooks and Books
Feature at View From the Birdhouse
Excerpt at Myths, Legends, Books & Coffee Pots
Tuesday, January 23
Feature at A Literary Vacation
Thursday, January 25
Feature at Just One More Chapter
Friday, January 26
Review at Life of a Female Bibliophile
Interview at Dianne Ascroft’s Blog
Sunday, January 28
Feature at Books of a Shy Girl
Monday, January 29
Review at Back Porchervations
Tuesday, January 30
Review & Interview at Elizabeth Jane Corbett
Wednesday, January 31
Review at Cup of Sensibility
Feature at A Holland Reads
Thursday, February 1
Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views
Friday, February 2
Guest Post at Passages to the Past
Giveaway
During the Book Blast we will be giving away a signed copy of WHERE DO I GO! To enter, please enter via the Gleam form below.
Giveaway Rules
– Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on February 2nd. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Giveaway is open to residents in the US only.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
– Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.
Thank you so much for hosting Beverly’s Blog Tour!
Amy
HF Virtual Book Tours
You’re welcome!