The Bone Weaver
A Novel
by Victoria Zackheim

List Price: $18.95
Pages: 264
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 1586190210
Publisher: Elton-Wolf Publishing

Set in contemporary Los Angeles and 19th Century eastern Europe, The Bone Weaver explores the life of Mimi Zilber, a highly regarded professor struggling to survive the death of her life-long friend, Sarah. By looking back into three generations of women -- great-grandmother, grandmother, mother -- and studying those threads that make up her family tapestry (threads fashioned from their lives and, thus, their bones), she begins to understand the source of her isolation. Even more, Mimi is forced to confront how, by submerging herself in academia and living her dreams of marriage and motherhood through Sarah, she has managed to avoid intimacy.

Read about The Bone Weaver and Victoria Zackheim at www.theboneweaver.com. The author meets with reading groups face-to-face, on the web, or by telephone.

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1. We respond so differently to death, particularly when we lose someone we dearly love. How would you describe Mimi's reaction to Sarah's death?

2. Rivka is such a complex and difficult woman. If you were in Mimi's position, how would you handle Rivka differently?

3. We see Mimi through one year of her life. Is there a point in the novel when your feelings about Mimi change?

4. Unlike our experience with Mimi, we follow Rivka through her entire life. How do you feel about Rivka at the beginning of the novel? And is there a point in the novel when your feelings about Rivka change?

5. Why do you think Mimi is so uncomfortable in her relationships?

6. What are your feelings about the relationship between Mimi and Daniel throughout the novel? Do those feelings change as Mimi approaches the end of journey of introspection?

7. If you were Daniel, how would you react to Mimi?

8. In your opinion, who was the central character in this novel?

9. Discuss one scene in the novel that you found memorable.

10. If you could rewrite the last chapter, what would happen between Daniel and Mimi? And what do you think the author intended to happen?

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"The Bone Weaver is a superbly written generational story, told from great-grandmother to grandmother to mother, about their lives and problems in struggling to survive and endure in 19th century eastern Europe despite pogroms, diseases, and other ills that befall life in the Jewish shtetl. The history of past survivors helps present day descendent Mimi Zilber better understand herself, where she comes from, and how to best set her sights on the future. The Bone Weaver is a unique, powerful, moving, inspiring, and very highly recommended novel."

—The Midwest Book Review, December 2001

"By taking apart her family's tapestry thread by thread, Mimi…learns important lessons about courage and the will to survive. The sense of place in this first novel, both in the past and present, is captivating and profound."

—Book Passage (News & Reviews) January-February, 2002

"Ms. Zackheim has written a fine story based on the lives of three generations of …courageous survivors…their lives are an inspiration and their stories deserve to be told."

—Rapport Magazine

"In the United States, two new novelists and their recently published works are…worthy of our attention….(Victoria) Zackheim's book is as much an excursion into history as it is into human relationships."

—Mordechai Ben-Dat, Canadian Jewish News

"In this lovely novel about a woman in mourning, remembrance of family history plays an important part…."

—Bellingham Herald, Nov. 11, 2001

"(the author) built a bridge of words that carried me back and forth across the ocean…I have heard and used the word "compelling" to describe many books. This book defines the word compelling.…This story of four generations of Jewish women is beautifully executed…descriptions of the lives, joys and pain of the characters are vivid and drawing."
…a very original story by a gifted writer... Mimi's journey is both emotional and analytical…"
…Ms. Zackheim must be carrying a sense of past generations somewhere in her DNA. I'm not sure her scholarly research skills alone, or her talent as a writer, could explain the compelling portrayals in The Bone Weaver."

—Barnes & Noble online reviews