The Whisper Sister

The author of Modern Girls delivers an atmospheric coming-of-age story set in Prohibition-era New York, tracing one immigrant family’s fortunes and a young girl’s journey from the schoolyard to the speakeasy.

The streets of New York in 1920 are most certainly not paved with gold, as Minnie Soffer learns when she arrives at Ellis Island. Her father, who left Ukraine when Minnie was a toddler, feels like a stranger. She sleeps on a mattress on the kitchen floor. She understands nothing at school. They came to America for this?

As her family adjusts to this new life, Minnie and her brother work hard to learn English and make friends. When her father, Ike, opens his own soda shop, stability and citizenship seem within reach. But the soda shop is not what it seems; it’s a front for Ike’s real moneymaker: a speakeasy.

When tragedy strikes the Soffers, Minnie has no choice but to take over the bar. She’s determined to make the speakeasy a success despite the risks it brings to herself, her family, and her freedom. At what price does the American dream come true? Minnie won’t stop until she finds out.

Jennifer S. Brown is the author of Modern Girls, which was a Goodreads Choice Award semifinalist for Historical Fiction, a Massachusetts Book Award “Must Read,” and a USA Today bestseller. Her writing has appeared in McSweeney’s, Fiction Southeast, Southeast Review, Hippocampus Magazine, Cognoscenti, and Bellevue Literary Review, among other places.

Jennifer has a BFA in film and television from New York University and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington. She loves writing historical fiction because the research lets her live vicariously in another time and place. Jennifer has two (mostly grown) children, two beagles, and a husband who won’t let her get more dogs. You can find Jennifer on Instagram (@brownjennys) or at www.jennifersbrown.com.