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Book Excerpt...
Chapter One, Grazia
Edict of Expulsion:
31st of March, 1492
Accused of ritual murder in Granada and not under jurisdiction of
the Inquisition, the Church orders expulsion of all Jews and
Marranos from Spain within four months.
Granada, Spain
2 Ab 5252 (4 August 1492)
“Hermando, no. Please. Hanna’s still a girl. She made a mistake.” My
mother appealed to my father even as she, too, made preparations for
our long journey. The air in the front room of our home that served
as our place of trade reeked with anger and frustration. Despair
replaced hope. Three months had passed since the Edict of Expulsion
on the thirty-first of Adar. Originally we were to leave on the
first day of Ab but the monarchs in their cruel contempt gave us one
more day.
“No!” my father shouted, gathering stacks of Byzantine silks and
flax linen. Furious, he stuffed them into large hemp bags. A swath
of crimson tapestry fell to the floor.
“But Hanna’s only fourteen.”
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Laughter is the Best Stressbuster
Stressed in Scottsdale
By Marcia Fine
Reviewed by Jessica Leigh Lebos
Face it — we live in a world that’s only getting crazier. Every
minute brings another text, another task, another spam email
advertising cheap pharmaceuticals…keeping up with it all could drive
a person to distraction. Not to mention the things our politicians
get past us when we’re not paying attention — whose idea was smog
anyway, and who decided it was good idea to bomb the moon? All of it
could give a person a heart condition — or worse.
Managing this overwhelmed state of mind is the challenge of
protagonist Jean Rubin in Marcia Fine’s latest novel, Stressed in
Scottsdale. Jean has already taken on murderous fashionistas and
greedy developers in Fine’s first two snicker-worthy send-ups of
Scottsdale, Gossip.com and Boomerang: When Life Comes Back to Bite
You, both of which skewer the tony Arizona enclave for its
superficial culture, plastic surgery obsession and ostentatious
displays of wealth. Jean sticks out among the fake blonds dripping
with diamonds like a cactus in an azalea patch with her Birkenstocks
and Women’s Studies doctorate, and in this third tale of her heroic
efforts to keep her life balanced, the stress begins to take its
toll.
Drawing on news headlines and perhaps her own experience as a multi-tasker,
Fine creates a frenetic — and funny — atmosphere that makes readers
feel relieved that their own lives couldn’t possibly be as absurd.
Jean has more on her to-do list than ever: Her well-meaning husband,
Maury, has volunteered her to help the local Green party candidate
win against her nemesis, her kids have kids of their own but can’t
manage to quite grow up and a clever cat burglar is stealing the
jewels of her best friends. Plus, there are needy freelance clients,
her cantankerous elderly mother and a young environmentally-minded
volunteer who might have designs on Maury — and at middle age, who
can compete with thin thighs?
Thankfully, Jean has her pals Glee and April who occasionally whisk
her away to the spa to help her relax, but those two with their
endless credit can’t truly comprehend what it means to juggle work,
family and finances in the real world. Their generosity helps Jean
take a few breaths, but it’s not enough to stave off total system
overload. Jean suffers a frightening collapse, and when she comes
to, she realizes that while circumstances haven’t changed, she’s
going to have to come up with more creative ways of handling them.
Fine clearly has an inside track to the 10,000 square-foot homes and
girl-with-guns luncheons, but like any good satire, this one has
wisdom to impart. Underneath its humorous barbs about rich desert
living and Botox parties, Stressed In Scottsdale contains a serious
message to all the busy women of the world who think they can get it
all done: You can’t, and you won’t, so you might as well as enjoy it
all anyway.
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