In this spiritual detective story, Shapiro explores the varieties of experience she has pursued--from the rituals of her black hat Orthodox Jewish relatives to yoga "shalas" and meditation retreats--and the surprisingly joyful quest she undertook to find meaning in a constantly changing world.

"In the spring of 2016, through a genealogy website to which she had whimsically submitted her DNA, Dani Shapiro received the astonishing news that her beloved deceased father was not her biological father. Over the course of a single day, her entire history--the life she had lived--crumbled beneath her. In just a few hours of Internet sleuthing, she was able to piece together the story of her conception and, remarkably, find a YouTube video of her...

"Flying couch tells the stories of three unforgettable women. Amy Kurzweil weaves her own coming-of-age as a young Jewish artist into the narrative of her mother, a psychologist, and Bubbe, her grandmother, a World War II survivor who escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto by disguising herself as a gentile. The voices and histories of these wise, hilarious, and very different women create a portrait not only of what it means to be part of a family, but also...

"What does it mean to be a mother? Professional woman? Wife and partner? Sister, daughter...? How do we discover the true meaning of identity? As a child, Susan Silverman was surrounded with a loving family--even if her parents weren't happily married, they were devoted to their kids. Not a terribly faith-based family, social justice was the religion practiced at the Silvermans' home. Susan's vibrant, funny, imminently relatable voice tells of a family...