The Book of Live Wires

Still grieving the death of his first wife, Darryl Sternberg enlists a woman to translate his grandmother’s journals from Russian, French and Yiddish. He finds himself increasingly embroiled with his quirky yet provocative translator as she uncovers hidden stories within his Jewish roots. His new wife Ava Sing Lo, meanwhile, is searching for her unknown father, who had been a black soldier in Korea. Their baby is diagnosed with sickle cell anemia; as Darryl and Ava learn to navigate Bella’s illness, they also learn to navigate and confront the secrets they’ve kept from one another (and themselves).

Readers of the Bellwether Prize-winning novel The Book of Dead Birds will cheer the return of cherished characters, and new readers will fall in love with the Sternberg-Sing Lo family for the first time. Filled with humor and heartache, The Book of Live Wires is ultimately a story about moving forward with love, even in the face of uncertainty.

Praise for The Book of Dead Birds

“Lyrical, imaginative, beautifully crafted, and deeply intelligent. Before anything else, its characters take you by the heart.”

— Barbara Kingsolver

“[It] has an edgy beauty that enhances perfectly the seriousness of its contents.”

— Toni Morrison

“[A] vivid tale of a woman learning to save and cherish life.”

— San Francisco Chronicle

“Brandeis has a poet’s ear for the music of language …[her] characters and their fledgling flights of the heart stay with readers long after the book is closed and set aside.”

— January Magazine