• Swimming to Jerusalem

     “It’s a great novel of New York…and a tender look at the way the progression of time makes immigrants of us all. A bighearted novel about the past’s refusal to recede” – Read the full Kirkus review here.

    Now available in Audible!

    Amazon  –   https://amzn.to/4gXQ1pe

    Bookshop – http://bit.ly/4ktvmwD

    I enjoy hearing from readers! seth@swimmingtojerusalem.com
    In Manhattan: New York Public Library; Manhattan at: E.53 St., E.67 St., Bloomingdale, Riverside, St. Agnes, Seward Park & Stavros Niarchos Foundation branches
    In the Bronx: Riverdale and Spuyten Duyvil branches
    In Staten Island: Todt Hill and Westerleigh branches
    In Queens: Queens Public Library; Bay Terrace, Bayside, Forest Hills*, Fresh Meadows, Glen Oaks, Hillcrest, Kew Gardens Hills*, Poppenhusen, and Whitestond branches

    * Forest Hills is the home of ‘The Terraces,’ the enclave where the Goodman-Ellis family lives and where Bram is pestered each morning by his neighbor, Mrs. Truscott
    ** Kew Gardens Hills is where Bram takes his son to practice his Hebrew in many Israeli restaurants on Main Street (where it’s noted Theo quickly picks up “basic falafel.”    )


    I am happy to speak at your book club – in person in the NYC metro area or online via Zoom – email me for details: seth@swimmingtojerusalem.com

    Readers have asked me, “What would Bram think of what is happening now?
    Please read this essay:     https://swimmingtojerusalem.com/2023/12/04/october-7-2023/

    For all rights inquiries, please contact: Laurie Blum Guest at Re-Naissance Agency laurieblumguest@re-naissanceagency.com

Bram Goodman was the coolest, most confident and self-assured guy in New York City – or so he thought. A few years later he is anything but. The story opens September 1, 1983 on the French Riviera where he is finishing up a summer gig as a swimming instructor. It is six-thirty in the morning and his roommate is singing off key to the Clash. Pulling the sheet over his head he ponders what comes next.

Thirty-two years later the “next” has happened. Despite any grand plan, Bram’s life took its course. He met Liz – who did have a grand plan – and he goes along for the ride. Alternating between past and present, Swimming to Jerusalem is the story of that journey. This includes the family he never imagined, a career he fell into, and memories that are like rogue waves, strong and unexpected.

Everything can change in a heartbeat. But the past never does. We know that memory should be a reference, not a residence – though sometimes that just isn’t possible.