My Mother's Son, the meticulously-crafted debut novel from David Hirshberg, is a story told by a radio raconteur revisiting his past in post-World War II Boston, the playground and battleground for two brothers whose lives are transformed by discoveries they never could have imagined. From the opening line of the book, 'When you're a kid, they don't always tell you the truth,' the stage is set for this riveting coming-of-age story that plays out against the backdrop of the Korean War, the aftermath of the Holocaust, the polio epidemic, the relocation of a baseball team, and the shenanigans of politicians and businessmen. Hirshberg deftly weaves together events, characters, and clues and creates a rich tapestry of betrayal, persecution, death, loyalty, and unconditional love that resonates with today's America.
Jacobo's Rainbow is a historical literary novel set primarily in the 1960s during the convulsive period of the student protest movements and the Vietnam War. It focuses on the issue of being an outsider-the 'other'-an altogether common circumstance that resonates with listeners in today's America. Written from a Jewish perspective, it speaks to universal truths that affect us all.
On the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of a transformative event in Jacobo's life, the day he is sent to jail, he writes about what happened behind the scenes of the Free Speech Movement, which provides the backdrop for a riveting story centered on his emergence into a world he never could have imagined. His recording of those earlier events is the proximate cause of his being arrested. Jacobo is allowed to leave jail under the condition of being drafted, engages in gruesome fighting in Vietnam, and returns to continue his work of chronicling America in the throes of significant societal changes.
Jacobo's Rainbow is a story of triumph over adversity that is told with vivid descriptions, perceptive insights, humor, and sensitivity, which enables the listener to identify with the characters who come to life in a realistic fashion to illustrate who we are, how we behave, and what causes us to change.
