"In THE HEIRS, Fran Hawthorne skillfully weaves an intimate and compelling portrait of Eleanor Ritter, a woman whose growing obsession with her family's experiences during the Holocaust threatens to derail her life more than 50 years later. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, THE HEIRS vividly lays bare the injustice of a legacy of guilt, and the danger of holding the present accountable for our past." -- V.R. Barkowski, author of A Twist of Hate

 

"With grace, precision and infinite tenderness, Hawthorne limns the dilemma of the so-called sandwich generation, caught between rambunctious, rebellious children and declining parents. Here is a wise, thoughtful novel to savor and an author to watch--and love."--Yona Zeldis McDonough, fiction editor of Lilith magazine

 

"Whether it's her annoyingly perfect cousin, her Holocaust-survivor mother's newly broken hip, her pre-bat mitzvah daughter and un-athletic young son, or her non-Jewish husband whose work with computers keeps him constantly at the office -- all that pressure on Eleanor leads to things which have long stayed buried starting to ooze out. Many readers will relate to Eleanor's struggles and see in them their own." -- Debra Nussbaum Cohen, New York correspondent for Haaretz

 

"A compelling read."--Rosanne Korenberg, award-winning film producer and co-executive producer of I, Tonya.

 

"Hawthorne, who has written eight nonfiction books, presents a powerful meditation on identity, family history and the legacy of war."--Sandee Brawarsky,  The Jewish Week