About The Mameloshn:

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Betty Baxter, mayoral candidate in a small, midwestern city, seems to be an all-American, Christian mother with an all-American, Christian family. In fact, she has been courting the Christian right with the help of her bright, young campaign manager, Dexter Hamilton.

 

But when Betty’s mother, Helene, has a stroke while on an extended visit, she comes home from the hospital speaking perfect Yiddish and unable to compose a sentence in English. Betty’s world begins to fall apart.

   

Betty’s husband, Harold, a professor of history on sabbatical so he can write a book on the history of the toothbrush, learns to speak with Helene through a combination of high school German and what he is learning from The Joys of Yiddish. Betty and Harold’s sons, Eric and Zach, are fascinated by the possibility that the family may be Jewish. They have even done research on areyouajew.com. But Betty, who knows more than she is saying, completely rejects any  such possibility.

   

Betty now has to rethink some of the personal compromises she has made to win the election. At the same time, Helene needs to find a way to come to terms with her past.

   

The family is armed with love and a gift for finding humor in difficult situations. Will Betty learn how to run a successful campaign without compromising her ideals? Will mother and daughter grow closer? Will the family become stronger or be torn apart?

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Writers Inspiration: Losing the ability to speak a second language after a stroke is a well-documented phenomenon. It happened to someone in my extended family. Only the woman was Italian, not Jewish, and she definitely did not speak Yiddish.