By Sue Littauer On Wednesday, March 11, The Center for Jewish Education( CJE) Book Club will welcome Sara Goodman Confino, a writer whose novels understand something essential: grief does not close a life. More often than not, it rearranges it. Confino will join the group via Zoom to discuss her latest novel,“ Good Grief,” published in August 2025. If you’ ve never read her work, now is the time to get started! The book has quickly become a reader favorite, not because it avoids loss, but because it refuses to let loss define the

end of the story. For readers new to her work, this conversation offers an ideal entry point. Across her novels, including“ She’ s Up to No Good,”“ Don’ t Forget to Write,” and“ Behind Every Good Man,” Confino returns to a familiar and deeply Jewish dynamic: strong, sometimes difficult relationships with older family members who serve as catalysts for self-discovery. Grandmothers, great-aunts, mothers, and mothers-in-law are not peripheral figures; they are engines of transformation.

Her novels are hard to put down, blending engaging plots and romantic tension with deeply drawn characters who find their own voice and strength. What makes her stories so captivating, however, is the the storytelling. Confino writes about women who come into themselves not despite family obligations but through them.

A good synopsis of“ Good Grief” can be found on the Jewish Book Council’ s website:“ It’ s 1963, two years since Barbara Feldman’ s husband died. Raising two kids, she’ s finally emerging from her cocoon of grief and is anxious to spread her wings. Then one day, her mother-in-law, Ruth, shows up on her

doorstep with five suitcases, expecting a room of her own with a suitable mattress.” Ruth, abrasive and stuck in her ways yet well-intentioned, has arrived to help with her grandchildren. With this, how can Barbara say“ no” to a woman who is also a widow and grieving her son? Ruth’ s prickly visit seems to go on forever, and Barbara must produce a plan to get her out of her house. However, the plot takes a turn when each woman has the same idea: to introduce the other to an eligible man to marry and find happiness, again. Confino’ s

greatest achievement in“ Good Grief” is her refusal to sentimentalize either woman. Both are flawed, both are lonely, and both are determined, in their own ways, to survive. It is this balance of honesty and hope that makes“ Good Grief” an especially fitting selection for a book club conversation – one that invites reflection rather than resolution.

The CJE Book Club will meet at 10:30 a. m. on March 11 in the Levine Sklut Judaic Library and Resource Center

at Shalom Park, where Confino’ s novels are available. Those unable to attend in person may request a Zoom link by emailing sueb. littauer @ jewishcharlotte. org.

What to Read Next: Those looking to explore further titles from the Shalom Park Library may also enjoy“ Hostage” by Eli Sharabi,“ The Water Lies” by Amy Meyerson,“ The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau” by Kristin Harmel, or“ Broken Country” by Claire Leslie Hall.