The Beautiful Possible

"Deeply felt and evocative. . . . Alive with characters and unafraid to examine ambiguous emotional complexities, this a moving debut." —Meg Wolitzer, New York Times bestselling author of The Interestings and Belzhar

Spanning seventy years and several continents, this epic, enthralling novel tells the braided love story of three unforgettable characters.


In 1946, Walter Westhaus, a German Jew who spent the war years at Tagore's ashram in India, arrives at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, where he meets Sol Kerem, a promising rabbinical student. A brilliant nonbeliever, Walter is the perfect foil for Sol's spiritual questions—and their extraordinary connection is too wonderful not to share with Sol's free-spirited fiancée Rosalie. Soon Walter and Rosalie are exchanging notes, sketches, and secrets, and begin a transcendent love affair. Months later they shatter their impossible bond, retreating to opposite sides of the country—Walter to pursue an academic career in Berkeley and Rosalie and Sol to lead a congregation in suburban New York. A chance meeting years later reconnects Walter, Sol, and Rosalie—catching three hearts and minds in a complex web of desire, heartbreak, and redemption


"I've never read anything quite like this lyrical and infinitely wise novel. . . . If books could shimmer, this one would." —Elizabeth Berg, author of The Dream Lover

"[A] meditation on faith and religion, on love and faithfulness, on feminism, on the times in which the characters lived, and on the meaning of life . . . a truly satisfying novel." —San Francisco Book Review

"An ambitious study of faith, doubt, and desire both erotic and spiritual." —Kirkus Reviews