Ask for a Convertible: Stories

“Home isn't just about place,” Efrat Greenberg scolds her daughter, Osnat, in “Ascent,” the last of the 13 linked stories in Brown's debut collection spanning approximately 20 years. But the struggles and longings of these two Tel Aviv–born women who move to Ann Arbor, Mich., when Osnat is in junior high school echo in all of Brown's characters. Efrat is woefully homesick: she moved for her American husband, Marvin, who accepted a teaching job after 13 years in Israel. Osnat seeks kinship from classmate and fellow immigrant Sanjay. The quest for connection is larger than the Greenbergs: in “Running,” family friend Harriet cements a friendship with an unpopular girl when the two teens concoct—after studying Anne Frank—an escape plan in case Nazis take over America. And then there's Noam, a battle-scarred Israeli soldier who arrives in New York with big dreams, but ends up slinging hummus in a Chicago suburb. He and Osnat wind up together on the night of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. At once openhearted and close-minded, Brown's characters often offend one another when they collide, and their stories capture the awkwardness of both coming to America and coming-of-age. (Aug.)