EAVESDROPPER

A teenager growing up in Cold War–era Massachusetts sees her parents ostracized and spied on for their left-leaning beliefs in Kivowitz’s historical novel.

The story begins in 1953: Sara Green is 14 years-old and her mother Libby has just returned from protesting the Rosenbergs’ executions. Libby and her husband (Sara’s father) Hank are both fairly radical left-wingers, particularly in the context of their small New England town of Goshen, Massachusetts, and when compared to Sara’s more conservative Jewish grandparents, Grandpa Joe and Grandma Rose, who make insults at the Rosenbergs’ expense. Sara’s parents’ politicalviews also cause some friction at school, where a flashback reveals the girl has been bullied for her parents’ alleged communist sympathies. When Libby is pressured to sign a loyalty oath to the state of Massachusetts in order to keep her job as a civics teacher—which she refuses to do out of principle—it seems that Libby’s commitment to her beliefs could threaten her family’s livelihood, as both her and her husband’s jobs are on the line. The narrative follows Sara as she attempts to maintain relationships with her grandparents and keep her life together as her parents stand by their convictions at a time when it was perilous to do so. Kivowitz crafts some memorable characters, with Libby—enigmatic and resilient—standing out as the most compelling. The important political themes of the book are finely balanced by chapters about Sara and her friend Mary birdwatching or learning about history. The book falters a bit in its prose, which can feel belabored and unnatural (“Libby unfolded from the back seat, looking rumpled and exhausted”). Likewise, the dialogue is often a little heavy-handed, as when the themes of the book come out a little too obviously in a climactic interrogation scene.

An engaging story with some complex characters and occasionally thudding dialogue.