Kantika

“This exquisitely imagined family saga spans cultures and continents.”
—New York Times  10 Best Historical Fiction of 2023 &   100 Notable Books of 2023

“A highly readable and poignant tale of dislocation, refuge and resilience.”
—National Public Radio, Best Books of 2023

“In Graver’s vision, migration is never simply a one-way street . . .   Kantika is a meticulous endeavor to preserve the memories of a family, an elegy and a celebration both.”
—Ayten Tartici, New York Times Book Review 

“[Kantika] is about a wealthy Turkish Jewish family . . . whose members are dispersed to Barcelona, Cuba and finally New York. And yet while it has all the drama one might expect from such journeys and the novels about them, it remains both lyrical and literary, and likely, if there is any justice, to stand the test of time.” 
—Andrew Silow-Carroll, Jewish Telegraphic Agency  

“Kantika,  like the songs Rebecca sings, is full of sorrow and  joy—and very beautiful.”
—Rachel Hall, Lilith Magazine

“A luminous story of a Sephardic family. Fans of family epics will love this.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A remarkable, lyrical work . . . Graver has written an elegant coming-of-age story that is also an epic of the Sephardi diaspora, spanning generations, wars, and continents.” 
—Sarah Abrevaya Stein, Jewish Review of Books

“Graver’s characters are rendered so realistically that the reader aches as the world turns against them, but the ever-resourceful Rebecca perseveres.”
—Reba Leiding,  Library Journal , starred review 

“A  story of immigration, tenacity, family bonds and change that sits in a sort of liminal space between fact and fiction, making for fascinating reading.”
—Jaime Herndon, Hadassah Magazine

“Graver’s paean to resolve and resiliency paints a vivid portrait of spirit and grit.” 
—Carol Haggas, Booklist

“Graver crafts a compelling narrative, weaving in threads of religion and history, feminism and family dynamics, passion and duty, survival and love . . . Enigmatic and enticing.”
—Katie Noah Gibson,   ShelfAwareness

“Beautiful and lyrical . . .  Kantika is a piece of transnational, century-spanning Jewish history.”
—Karen Skinazi,  Jewish Journal 

“Writing with such candor is a feat . . . A lush but unsentimental drama.”
—The Forward

“A beautifully written story of loss and love, of survival and sanctuary, of a search for home and identity. At its heart, it is a story of family.”
—Jennifer Huberdeau, The Berkshire Eagle

“Ladino music threads its way through the text and provides a constant, unifying metaphor for the novel: whether sad or joyous, sacred or secular, personal history or fiction, Kantika sings.” 
—Susan Lowell, Historical Novel Society, Editors’ Choice

“Kantika is a beautiful, moving and splendidly entertaining evocation of a lost world. Elizabeth Graver looks back at family history with a novelist’s eye and a poet’s empathy.
—John Banville, author of Ancient Light

“In the end,  Kantika‘s heroine triumphs not in a larger-than-life way, but in a way that makes her feel relatable . . . We, too, are invited to enter into the story and make a place for ourselves.”
—Nina B. Lichtenstein, Jewish Book Council 

“Kantika  is Elizabeth Graver’s poignant homage to her grandmother, but it is also a testament to her talent as a storyteller, to make a narrative so believable and compelling, and, indeed, sometimes funny, just as it is in life.”
—Roberta Silman, The Arts Fuse 

“Graver’s lyrical prose sets the tone for the impressive story she’s about to tell.”
—Susan Blumberg-Kason, Asian Review of Books 

“The Sephardi woman has finally entered the literary conversation. I hope she’s here to stay.”
—Hannah Srour-Zackon, The Canadian Jewish News

“In gorgeous detail, this epic family story restores a lost time and place.    Kantika is both an immigrant story and a hero’s journey as Graver’s extraordinary characters—first among them the indomitable  Rebecca—travel between worlds and find ways to refashion their lives.” 
—Allegra Goodman, author of Sam

“This novel is an acute portrait of displacement and reinvention, and it sings.”
—Michael Frank, author of One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World

“This utterly captivating novel illuminates how one family’s history is history. Astonishing work, reminiscent, to my mind, of the best work of the great Italian writer, Elsa Morante.”
—Peter Orner, author of Still No Word From You: Notes in the Margin 

“Intimately imagined, lyrically written, and rich with historical detail, Kantika weaves forced displacement, wild reinvention, and triumphant healing into a big, border-crossing family saga. Marvelous!”
—Gish Jen, author of   Thank You, Mr. Nixon

“We are familiar with the Ashkenazi Jewish immigrant story, but much less so the Sephardi one. In Kantika, Elizabeth Graver’s beautiful new novel, instead of Yiddish we get Ladino, and instead of Eastern Europe, we get Turkey and Spain. Both epic and heartfelt, Kantika  belongs in the company of the great twentieth-century immigrant Jewish writers, such as Saul Bellow, Cynthia Ozick, Grace Paley, and Henry Roth.”
—Joshua Henkin, author of  Morningside Heights

“A gorgeous accomplishment. In intimate and inventive prose, Elizabeth Graver carries us to the vibrantly drawn streets of Constantinople and Barcelona, Havana and New York. We follow her remarkable characters through grief and hope, and into human connections as delicate as they are profound.  This is a novel to get lost in.”
—Rachel Kadish, author of  The Weight of Ink 

“From the first page, I was swept up and carried along on the migrations of an unforgettable family. Kantika  is a gripping story of twentieth-century Sephardic exile and reinvention and the longing for homes, both old and new.”
—Tova Mirvis, author of   The Book of Separation