[stylist] synopsis

[Judith Bron]

Hi, The publisher I want to send information about my book to is requesting a synopsis.  I haven't written a synopsis since writing a book report in Jr. High.  How does this sound?  Thanks, Judith

Judith Bron 72 North Cole Avenue Spring Valley, NY 10977

Phone: 845-426-3177 Email: jbron at optonline.net

Synopsis The Letter By Judith Bron  

Jennifer's best friend Randy, captain of their high school football team, had been with her since the accident that morning.  After the car struck her on a street a few blocks from her home in Curtis Cove, New York she experienced herself being transported to a corridor where her long deceased mother talks to her.  Now Randy sat beside her bed asking what it would take for her to go out with him.  

As Randy long suspected, her question about her identity that only was used by bigoted classmates to identify her as a Jew was the basis Jennifer couldn't become emotionally involved with anyone.  She needed to find out who she was and what this Jewish thing meant.

Her foster mother Sheila, having just left Jennifer thought about the small package she had in her possession and the day it was brought to her.  A man identifying himself as a lawyer for a family who perished in the holocaust asked her to give the packet to Jennifer on her seventeenth birthday.  After accepting the packet Sheila had run to the window to watch him drive away but saw no car on the driveway or street.  She saw no man walking away from her house.  Spooked by the incident she put the small packet in her drawer and waited for Jennifer's birthday to get it out of her possession.

Pessi Goldberg's mother has terminal cancer.  During her illness for the past five years Pessi withdrew from any girls her age and devoted herself exclusively to her mother and family.  Her once rich family has fallen on hard times.  In spite of the fact that her mother is dying, Pessi continues to treat her like a mother and argue about seemingly little things that all girls disagree with their mother on.

In Jenna, New York on the day of Jennifer's accident, reclusive Pessi decides to go to a lecture at the school on a Shabbos or Sabbath afternoon.  Her classmate Chavy Levy, a pretty but a bit overweight teen with a great sense of humor, sees Pessi in the back of the room and approaches her.  Eventually Chavy is successful in cajoling Pessi away from the back of the room convincing her to sit with other classmates.

That day changes a lot in Pessi's and Jennifer's lives.  Jennifer recovers from the accident that led her to a near death experience and Pessi slowly becomes involved with classmates.  

Eventually Mrs. Goldberg passes away leaving her daughter with mountains of guilt to overcome and questions about her religious Jewish identity.

In Curtis Cove Jennifer, the high school junior continues to try to find out just what her Jewish identity means while coping with the almost daily anti-Semitic remarks of classmates.  On her seventeenth birthday Sheila hands her the book with the inserted paper but, as Sheila suspected, Jennifer can't read the foreign language on both the book and paper.  

Pessi manages to overcome the death of her mother and take her place as a class leader.  However, she continues to suffer from an inferiority complex.  

On her seventeenth birthday Sheila presents Jennifer with the packet delivered by the lawyer.  This is the only thing Jennifer has from her parents killed in a fire when she was two.  Until the second part of the story when Jennifer reveals the packet, she uses these objects to communicate with her long dead parents.

Jennifer's search for her identity eventually leads her to the library where she finds a book that explains her religion.  Her foster mother encourages her to enroll in an observant Jewish summer camp hoping they will teach her something there that will help this girl define herself.

Camp changes Jennifer's life forever.  She leaves camp and tells Sheila that she wants to continue living as an observant Jew.  A family in Jenna agrees to take Jennifer in.  Before Jennifer leaves Jenna Sheila tells her the truth about the messenger who delivered the packet.  

But that family doesn't work out.  Chavy's father, Rabbi Levy, consents to take her in and the lives of Pessi, Chavy and Jennifer become intertwined. 

Before the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashannah, The high school principal, Mrs. Newman asks Jennifer if she has a Hebrew name.  Jennifer has learned enough Hebrew to learn from the paper she carries in her back pack that her Hebrew name is Breindle.  From that moment on the letter takes on new importance in our story.

Jennifer is kidnapped.  The letter contains a financial section and she is really an heiress that stands to inherit a large fortune from her grandfather.  But there is more to Jennifer than her identity of being an orphan from Curtis Cove.  Pessi's family is also changing.  But the mystery surrounding the letter is the centerpiece of the story.

Identity questions, questions about religion and growth of two girls in a tumultuous world define The Letter.  The mystery thread keeps the reader riveted throughout the novel.  Many of the conflicts captured in the Letter are universal.  Teenagers everywhere will identify with the pain experienced by the teenage characters in the novel.