I received this book two months later and I finally read it last month. I found it to be pretty slow. It wasn't a bad story but just not one that i could get excited about and want to pass on to my friends. With that said I rated it kind of low. ( )

This book was just OK. I don't think I would recommend it to anyone unless they were dying to read up on the history of Jerusalem, and even there it falls short. The main character Zara Rubens is not a very interesting person even though she supposedly makes a dramatic journey to Jerusalem in the mid 1800's by herself. Highly doubtful from such a prim and unsophisticated middle aged woman. Her 'adventures' are quite dull and I found I didn't really care what she was experiencing. The writing is jumpy and most characters are flat and one dimensional. To top it off, the end just flat out fizzled to a quick and wishy washy death. I think the author knows the city of Jerusalem well but did not have the writing skill to bring it to life for me. I really cannot in good faith recommend this book. ( )

Sue Kerman’s research into Jerusalem in the 19th Century has resulted in a fine, albeit slight, fictionalization of an intriguing character’s career in Palestine of the time. It contains a loose-fitting framework of a contemporary story bracketing a purported history of a Jewish widow who decides she will go to Jerusalem, since she doesn’t have anything too compelling to keep her in New York.

Ms. Kerman tells the story through entries in the protagonist’s journal, and travel articles for the New York Times. The author intends a portrait of Jerusalem at a time when it was in the control of Muslims, but had significant Jewish and Christian populations, which were socially inferior at the time. At this task, she succeeds pretty well: we get insight into the issues that seem unfortunately to plague Jerusalem almost to this day – fanaticism, tension, intolerance. We get a balanced account of how families and foreigners try to cope and make ends meet, but overall, the story is slight and shallow. Jerusalem is the real center of attention here, but Ms. Kerman does add a twist at the end that partway lays the foundation for the light, oblique touch that precedes it.

If you’re interested in Jerusalem at the middle of the 19th Century, this book will provide an effective glimpse into it. Also, it’s a light, fairly entertaining read, that will divert you with its construct and inform you with its details.

http://bassoprofundo1.blogspot.com/2012/03/between-heaven-and-earth-by-sue-kerma... ( )

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. There is a lot
of history from Jerusalem long before Israel became a country
all its own. Even back in the 1860's there was a lot of tension
between all the factions there and this book talks about them
honestly with an eye for wonderful characters, particularily Zara
Rubens who emmigrates to Jerusalem from the US.
I don't think she planned on spending the rest of her life there, but
that is what happened anyway. Very entertaining and informational!

A delightful book. If you liked [Sara’s Key] or [The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane] (two I've read), you may enjoy the interplay of past and present . Rebecca, a modern woman who curates museum exhibits, receives her greataunt’s journals from her stay in Jerusalem and decides to travel there also. While Rebecca feels some similarity in their situations, this aspect is not followed through. Neither is the death of an elderly Jew, which Zara witnesses upon arrival in the Holy Land, and a similar death witnessed by her new friend, Elizabeth. But since Zara’s story is written as excerpts from journal entries , letters, or articles, I didn’t really miss the development of this aspect. It did lead me to believe, at first, that this would be some type of mystery novel. I don’t think this novel fits neatly into any genre at all. Not romance, although friendships do develop. Not religious, although Zara often questions the relevance of her Jewish heritage and we do hear about various Christian sects who attempted to convert Jews and Moslems. Perhaps it could be labeled fictionalized history. I’m not sure whether Zara was a real personage. Indeed, the bibliography includes an 1866 publication by Elizabeth. But for a history, it doesn’t focus heavily on the political personages. It is more a vignette of lives of Europeans during the latter half of the 1800’s. And that is just fine with me, I’m reading for enjoyment not to spout facts about names, dates, and conflicts.
This review is based on an Advanced Reader’s Copy. It is remarkably free of typographical and grammatical errors—in fact, I found none, unlike several other ARCs. ( )