The beloved author of Not Our Kind and The Dressmakers of Prospect Heights returns with One of Them, a story of secrets, friendship, and betrayal, about two young women at Vassar in the years after World War II — a powerful and moving tale of prejudice and pride that echoes the cultural and social issues of today.
Kitty Zeldis has been delighting readers with novels about women living right after the two world wars, writing “the type of historical fiction that book groups love” – Library Journal. Her novel Not Our Kind featured two young women —one Jewish, one not —and the wholly unexpected consequences of their meeting in New York City two years after WWII. The Dressmakers of Prospect Heights was set in turn of 20th century New York, New Orleans, and Russia, and about two women’s burgeoning friendship and the secrets they hold. With her newest book One of Them, (on-sale: 9/9/2025), her best novel yet, Kitty once again features two heroines – this time two young college women who must deal with consequences of identity in the face of antisemitism.
It is 1947 and Anne Bishop seems like a typical Vassar freshman—one of a popular group of privileged WASP friends. None of the girls in her circle has any idea that she’s Jewish, or that her real first name is Miriam. Pretending to be a Gentile has made life easier—as Anne, she no longer suffers the snubs, snide remarks, and daily restrictions Jews face. She enjoys her college life of teas, late-night conversations, and mixers. She turns a blind eye to the casual anti-Semitism that flourishes among her friends and classmates—after all, it’s no longer directed at her.
But her secret life is threatened when she becomes fascinated by another Vassar girl who is not a member of her crowd. Delia Goldhush is sophisticated, stylish, brilliant, and unashamedly Jewish—and seems not to care that she’s an outcast among the other students. Knowing that her growing closeness with Delia would be social suicide if it were discovered, Anne keeps their friendship quiet. Delia seems to understand—until a cruelty on Anne’s part drives them apart and sends them scattering to other corners of the world, alone and together.
Born in Chadera, Israel, Kitty Zeldis is the pseudonym for an award-winning author of nine novels and over thirty-five books for children. Her essays, articles and short fiction have been published in many national and literary publications. She is also the Fiction Editor of Lilith Magazine. Zeldis lives in Brooklyn, NY. For more on Kitty Zeldis, visit her on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kittyzeldis; and Instagram: www.instagram.com/kittyzeldis
Books will be for sale at this event.
Co-sponsored by the Avon Library & Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies.
Please register, so we can set the community room up with appropriate seating.