By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Writing historical fiction that combines fact and fiction – particularly using real life people as characters – can be difficult because the writers’ plots are constrained by historical events that readers can confirm in history books or on the Internet. There are several different approaches to writing these types of works, two of which can be seen in recent novels: “Ain’t No Grave” by Mary Glickman (Open Road) and “Regina of Warsaw: Love, Loss and Liberation” by Geri Spieler (Speaking Volumes). While the former novel features fictional characters who interact with real life ones, the latter is based on the life of the author’s grandmother and combines factual and fictional elements.

“Ain’t No Grave” takes place in the rural American South during the early part of the 20th century and focuses on two characters: Max Sassaport, whose family is the only Jewish one in their small town, and Ruby Johnson, a member of a Black sharecropper family. The two become friends in 1906 when they are 9 years old, an age when Black and white children can still play together. However, both know their relationship has an age limit due to the culture and customs of the time – one that frowns on the mixing of the races past a certain age. 

Unfortunately, as young as he is, Max truly loves Ruby and the feeling is returned. But they soon are unable to spend much time together because Max needs to help out in his parents’ store and Ruby is now old enough to work with her family in the fields and take odd jobs. Then a violent act forces Ruby to leave their small town and move to Atlanta. Max dislikes working at the store and, after several years, also moves to Atlanta, now working as a newspaper reporter. The two friends find each other, although there are numerous impediments to their being together as a couple. In fact, they know the only safe way for them to marry and have a family is to leave the South.

Before they can leave, though, historical events get in their way. Those familiar with Southern Jewish history will be aware of the Leo Frank trial. Frank, a Northern Jewish man, was accused of murdering a young white woman who worked at the factory he supervised. The case created a great divide between the Black and Jewish communities of Atlanta because the other potential murder suspect was Black. Each community feared the repercussions that would occur if someone of their race or religion was found guilty. Frank’s trial affects Max and Ruby, and leaves them wondering about their place in the world. 

“Ain’t No Grave” is well written with an interesting plot and more suspense than one might expect. Glickman offers a list of “Historical Personages” at the end of the novel, some of whom might surprise readers. This is an excellent work for book clubs interested in Jewish American life in the South, and the fragile relationship between Blacks and Jews. It may also encourage readers who are unaware of the Leo Frank trial to learn more about this miscarriage of justice.

While the main characters in “Ain’t No Grave” are fictional, the Regina in “Regina of Warsaw” is a mix of fact and fiction. Although Spieler writes in an author’s note that Regina is based on her grandmother, she also notes that there is a great deal of her grandmother’s story that she never knew when her grandmother was alive. However, she discovered more about Regina’s life when she visited relatives in Warsaw after Regina’s death, and came to recognize the courage and determination that brought her grandmother to the United States.

This novel also begins in 1906, but in Poland during a pogrom. What should have been a wonderful visit with her sister in Bialystok turns into a nightmare. Both women return to their family home in Warsaw, but Regina is permanently changed by what occurred. Her negative thoughts about life in Poland and Europe are confirmed by her work for the Bund, the first Jewish Socialist party: she translates material for the local group and learns just how precarious life is for the Jews of Europe. She marries one of the male revolutionaries, but her thoughts about the future are different from his and the other members of her family: she believes that they need to leave Europe now because things are only going to get worse. Her husband refuses to leave, but she and their son emigrate on their own.

Stopping in Paris to visit her sister on the way to the U.S., Regina marries again, although readers will learn that marriage is far from perfect. Since Spieler notes in her introduction that her mother and aunts lived in a Los Angeles Jewish orphanage during their school years, it doesn’t spoil any surprise to write that life did not turn out exactly the way Regina expected. She also discovers there is antisemitism in her new home, although not the horrific kind she faced in Europe.

The prose in “Regina of Warsaw” is plain and blunt. What carries the novel is not the writing but the story itself. Readers will become absorbed in the ups and downs of Regina’s life, and will appreciate her strength and willingness to do what she believes will help her family, even if it’s not something of which society approves. It’s difficult to know how much of this work is fact and how much is embellishment, but that doesn’t take away from the story of this remarkable woman.