Wildflower

by Rachel Pomerantz

A childless couple of ba’alei teshuva take a foster baby, Ronny, from a secular home. The remainder of the book treats their difficult relationship with the child's natural family, and the marital difficulties of Barbara's friend Aviva.

Genres: Jewish, Fiction

442 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Pen-name for Malka Schaps, Israel’s first female Haredi dean.

Reviews

[Kressel Housman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fictional teshuva story with enjoyable albeit predictable plot twists. A pretty Jewish girl begins the process of teshuva. She meets a guy who wants to marry her. Her parents pressure her, and she backslides into the secular life. The guy wins her back, and she stays frum. They settle in Jerusalem. They struggle with infertility. They become foster parents. She conceives. They face a custody struggle from their foster son's real parents. The protagonist becomes a writer. Happy ending!

I'm giving it four stars because I did enjoy it, but I felt it was weakest in the teshuva/backsliding/teshuva part. I've never found any fictional teshuva story that really depicts this struggle realistically, having gone through it myself. It's always settled too easily.

I may just re-read this, or at least parts of it. On their early dates, the couple discusses Daniel Deronda!

[Frum Books]

First of a still-ongoing series. Barbara enters seminary looking for adventure but quickly finds herself absorbed in her new lifestyle. Through her initial impressions of frum life, her dating life and ultimate marriage, and her struggle with fertility and adoption, the straightforward writing and subdued drama let the setting and personalities take center stage. We meet Barbara’s wide circle of family and friends, colorful and evolving characters who know their minds, and witness the chaos and beauty of transition, challenge, and balance in Eretz Yisrael.

(Note that the Goodreads description is incorrect and is about a different title in the series.)

[Chava · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story takes place in Israel in the early 1990s, and it is very dated, but I enjoyed it because the characters were well-developed, and the drama surrounded real problems and issues like fostering children, divorce, and family relations when the family members have different views. It is a rather serious book, and the author obviously has strong opinions about many things including more modern Jewish observance and secular influences.