Of the hundreds of thousands of Jewish immigrants who left Eastern Europe between the 1880s and the early 1920s, a handful settled in Newfoundland. These Yiddish-speaking, Eastern European Jews lived alongside English Protestants and Irish Catholics. This book brings to life the moving story of the Jews of St. John's through the voices and words of the immigrants and their children.

Alison Kahn first came to Newfoundland in 1980 as a graduate student in folklore at Memorial University. She received her B.A. in American literature from Middlebury College. From 1976-77, she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin, West Africa. She now lives in Washington, D.C., working as a researcher for National Geographic Traveler magazine.

Alison Kahn's profile page

"This book is an important contribution to the growing body of community oral history studies. In addition, Kahn's sensitivity to those she interviewed emphasizes the human experience of this tiny Jewish community in St. John's."

Michael P. Chaney, The Oral History Review

"This is a fascinating book for anthropologists, sociologists, historians, Judaic scholars and also the general public. The book touched me very deeply. It offers in a warm, lucid and human voice a captivating story of the early years and the aging of one small Jewish community...A community destined not to survive beyond three generations."

Yedida Stillman, State University of New York

"Kahn presents a charming and lively picture. For a vignette of the Jewish experience of North America it is intense and satisfying."

W. E. Eagan, Choice Reviews