The Family Tabor by Cherise Wolas; Flatiron Books © 2018; ISBN 9781250-081452; 381 pages plus acknowledgments, $27.99
By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – This mystery novel absorbs readers’ attention not only because they are in suspense about the disappearance of one of the main characters, but also because the narrative illustrates that no matter how wealthy you are, or successful in your career, there is no guarantee that you will be really happy.
The Family Tabor is a highly assimilated Jewish family. Father Harry is a well-known philanthropist. Mother Roma is a well-regarded psychologist. Their three adult children also are doing well in their fields. Daughter Phoebe is an attorney who represents visual and performing artists; daughter Camille is a social anthropologist, who, like her heroine Margaret Mead, has lived among isolated indigenous people, and son Simon, who is the only one married, is an attorney specializing in the law dealing with the recovery of stolen art. He and his wife Elena have two young daughters.
The entire family gathers for a weekend at which Harry is to be honored in Palm Springs as the “Man of the Decade” for his charitable work in behalf of legal immigrants and refugees to this country. Harry’s charitable foundation not only helps to bring the immigrants to this country but also assists their settling into their new lives.
As author Cherise Wolas alternates between characters, we learn that Phoebe, though attractive and successful, is worried that she may never find a husband; Camille, having written her little-read dissertation about the people of a Micronesian island, is in the throes of a literary post-partum depression. Simon, whose wife Elena is Catholic, worries that they are drifting apart. Harry is pursued by a sense of guilt about something he did more than 30 years before. Roma, so wise in discerning problems in other families, seems blind to what has been happening in her own household.
Although highly assimilated, two of the characters experience the stirrings of Judaism in their souls, propelling them in new directions. The experiences in Eastern Europe of the family’s immigrant generation—on both Roma’s and Harry’s sides—are important reference points for various characters.
I think two categories of readers in particular will enjoy this novel: Mystery fans, who’ll wonder what happened to that missing main character and if anyone “dunnit,” and those with an interest in Jewish history and spiritualism. Wolas, whose recent first novel, The Resurrection of Joan Ashby, was highly acclaimed, also deserves hearty plaudits for this second novel.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com