 Jacob's Cane: A Jewish Family's Journey from the Four Lands of Lithuania to the Ports of London and Baltimore Elisa New, Basic Books, A Member of the Perseus Books Group 2009. Paperback. 328 pages.
The publisher's website.
“From the very first morning I saw it and turned its pale engraved script into the November light, I knew this cane would exert a stronger, more persistent influence over my imagination than any one object ever had,” thus begins an adventure to find the rich and compelling story of one atypical immigrant family. Elisa New’s genealogical journey begins after she finds her great-grandfather’s ornately carved cane in her uncle’s closet in Baltimore. In Jacob’s Cane: A Jewish Family’s Journey from the Four Lands of Lithuania to the Ports of London and Baltimore, readers are taken on a journey spanning three continents and five generations. It all began with Jacob Levy’s ornately hand-carved and initialed wooden cane. This cane became the key to discovering a family story rich in intrigue, mystery and adventure.
This first-person account tells about an immigrant family. However, this is no Tevye story. These relatives were aristocrats, and one great uncle, according to his sister, was even, “knighted-by-the Queen” (of England), even if Elizabeth was only a princess at the time. This family saga follows the economic and cultural history of tobacco, the product from which some of the members made their fortune, from the 1800s to the 1940s and beyond.
The author traveled from Baltimore to Philadelphia to Lithuania, to Israel, and so much further to gather original sources and to speak to the matriarchs and patriarchs of this family who remember people who make this story so compelling.
New is a professor of literature, and the writing flows in a way that shows the literary skill that one would expect from such a writer. The original sources, such as copies of letters, newspaper advertisements, and photographs, and the solid research add to the enjoyment of this poignant and compelling story..
This book is available at:
Gur Arieh Bookstore,
Yoel Solomon St 8,
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-625-7486.
Fax: 02-625-4265
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