Tamar: A Historical Coming of Age Novel of a Jewish Native American Woman in Post-Civil War California

by Sheldon Greene

A Community of Jewish/American Indians Struggle to Keep their Ancestral Land.

Tamar, the narrator, is chosen to lead her community as they resist the encroachment of settlers, a railroad, and the U. S. Army.

She also copes with her impulsive husband, the relocation of some of her community, the birth of a child, and the complications of an affair. The novel provides a vivid view of California during the late 19th century.

Tamar is the last novel in the American Quartet series:
Book 1: Lost and Found
Book 2: The Seed Apple
Book 3 The Lev Effect
Book 4: Tamar

Available in Kindle and paperback.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

247 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 8, 2022

About the author

Sheldon Greene started young. He was appointed Warden of Insurance of the State of Ohio at age 23. A public interest lawyer, Greene pursued seminal issues literally decades before they achieved national attention, such as our flawed health delivery system, the impact of illegal immigration on the economy, renewable energy, and our public land policies. Greene was a participant in the first Obama national policy team for both immigration and energy. He was one of the founders of the New Israel Fund and helped formulate its unique structure drawing on his experience as General Counsel of California Rural Legal Assistance. He is an executive in a wind energy development company and has been actively engaged in renewable energy for over 25 years. He advocates the formulation of a God concept derived from the life process, stripped of anachronistic anthropomorphic characteristics. He has developed personal guidelines for a balanced, seamless life with spiritual, intellectual, social, and creative dimensions. He is the author of seven published novels.

Of the seven novels already published six have strong Jewish content. The topics range widely from fact based to flights of imagination. Topics explored include aid by Jews to the American Revolution,(Pursuit of Happiness) Jewish influence on Pre-Columbian culture, (The Seed Apple) World War II Jewish partisans, the illegal immigration to Palestine, the Israeli War of Independence (Prodigal Sons) , small town Jewish values,(Lost and Found). One of the novels, (Burnt Umber) moves from Pre World War I Germany to Berkeley during the Viet Nam war with the German artist, Franz Marc and a fact-based Jewish artist and Cal professor as the principal characters. A major theme is the empowerment of women in the 20th Century. Yet another novel (After The Parch) describes California in the near future after the dissolution of the United States.

Reviews

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing book…

Extremely hard to put down - if you like personalized history, this is for. you. Descriptions are so vivid you can see them in your mind. This has inspired me to check out more history in these areas.

[Brie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title tells you what you need to know about the focus of the novel, Tamar. She and her people are forced to defend their land when the railroad comes to California. When her husband becomes a fugitive, she takes over as head of her people and escapes with many of them to Los Angeles. While there, she worked with lawyer Tyler Mathews for the release of their fighters and to regain rightful ownership of their land. The book has a lot of action and surprises, but also some slow parts with long descriptions. I'd really give it 3.5 stars if I could. Overall, it's a topic in fiction from which I'd like to read more stories.

(The Kindle edition had a lot of typos.)