Overview

Reva Mann was a wild child. Granddaughter of the Chief Rabbi of Israel and daughter of a highly respected London Rabbi, she rebelled strongly and so began a desperate search to discover who she was. In a whirlwind of sex and drugs, Reva strove to leave her strict family life behind her and find her own path. When, years later, Reva decides she wants to return to her Jewish faith, she leaves London and enters a woman's yeshiva in Jerusalem. Driven by a strong yearning to return to a higher level of spirituality, she is determined to find a strictly orthodox holy man to marry and have children. So Reva begins a new life, wanting to suppress her former desires and needs, and to find her way to God. In this honest and often shocking memoir, Reva presents to us the secret world of ultra Orthodox Judaism. Fascinating insights into modern day matchmakers, ritual baths, sexual codes of conduct and Jewish practice are depicted, and Reva's journey is brought to life in stunning detail.

Full Product Details

9780340943670

Table of Contents

Reviews

Sometimes shocking, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes very funny, Reva Mann's story is a fascinating glimpse into a hidden world, -- Elle Magazine Fascinating and harrowing in equal measure... -- Daily Express An incredible journey of rediscovery. -- This Morning, ITV There are moments of profound insight ... read this book and then hide it from the kids! -- Jewish Telegraph The mantra of sex'n'drugs'n'rock'n'roll might have been coined for Reva Mann ... the book at times makes one gasp aloud, she has done a service by opening a window on the strictly Orthodox world. -- Jewish Chronicle Gripping, harrowing and devastatingly honest. -- Naomi Alderman A fascinating journey ... This is a searingly honest account of one woman's struggle with her faith and her health. -- The Good Book Guide Makes for riveting, compulsive reading. -- Elle Magazine USA For all her industrious bad behaviour, it is the quieter episodes of this candid memoir that are the most interesting; illuminating a quest of universal interest and fascinating local detail -- Daily Mail

'Sometimes shocking, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes very funny, Reva Mann's story is a fascinating glimpse into a hidden world,' -- Elle Magazine 'Fascinating and harrowing in equal measure...' -- Daily Express 'An incredible journey of rediscovery.' -- This Morning, ITV 'There are moments of profound insight ... read this book and then hide it from the kids!' -- Jewish Telegraph 'The mantra of sex'n'drugs'n'rock'n'roll might have been coined for Reva Mann ... the book at times makes one gasp aloud, she has done a service by opening a window on the strictly Orthodox world.' -- Jewish Chronicle 'Gripping, harrowing and devastatingly honest.' -- Naomi Alderman 'A fascinating journey ... This is a searingly honest account of one woman's struggle with her faith and her health.' -- The Good Book Guide 'Makes for riveting, compulsive reading.' -- Elle Magazine USA 'For all her industrious bad behaviour, it is the quieter episodes of this candid memoir that are the most interesting; illuminating a quest of universal interest and fascinating local detail' -- Daily Mail 20080411

Sometimes shocking, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes very funny, Reva Mann's story is a fascinating glimpse into a hidden world, Elle Magazine Fascinating and harrowing in equal measure... Daily Express An incredible journey of rediscovery. This Morning, ITV There are moments of profound insight ... read this book and then hide it from the kids! Jewish Telegraph The mantra of sex'n'drugs'n'rock'n'roll might have been coined for Reva Mann ... the book at times makes one gasp aloud, she has done a service by opening a window on the strictly Orthodox world. Jewish Chronicle Gripping, harrowing and devastatingly honest. Naomi Alderman A fascinating journey ... This is a searingly honest account of one woman's struggle with her faith and her health. The Good Book Guide Makes for riveting, compulsive reading. Elle Magazine USA For all her industrious bad behaviour, it is the quieter episodes of this candid memoir that are the most interesting; illuminating a quest of universal interest and fascinating local detail Daily Mail

Jerusalem-based newspaper columnist Mann recounts her struggles with men, procrustean religion, drugs, sex, motherhood, breast cancer and the loss of loved ones.Employing the present tense throughout - perhaps to add an urgency that the narrative doesn't always deliver - the first-time author reveals a profound sadness at her center. The daughter and granddaughter of prominent rabbis, Mann rebelled as a teen with drugs and bad boyfriends. Reeling out of a troubled relationship with a druggie, she decided to move from London to Israel, where she studied midwifery and was attracted to the most fundamentalist form of Judaism she could find. She married a Hassidic scholar and adopted a pious lifestyle that puzzled even her father, a more moderate Jew. As she desperately sought happiness, she found herself increasingly repelled by her husband and his ways. Then a hunk of a handyman came to remodel the kitchen. Leers turned to frantic, clawing, biting sex - there is much explicit detail about her romps with this kitchen aide and with other lovers - which, of course, eventually led to the dissolution of her marriage and anguish for their three children. Later, another relationship with another slovenly drug addict went awry, but not before the author describes some luscious nubile bodies on a nude beach with nipples soft and pink like candy. Lying on that same beach, she felt a lump, learned that she had breast cancer and endured surgery, chemo and radiation. Along the way, her father died, then her mom, in most disturbing fashion. The author then decides it's time to reunite with her sister, institutionalized back in England with Down's syndrome, whom she hasn't seen in 20 years. She vows to visit once a year from now on.A woeful life, related in prose that's largely hollow and unremarkable. (Kirkus Reviews)

'Sometimes shocking, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes very funny, Reva Mann's story is a fascinating glimpse into a hidden world,' -- Elle Magazine 'Fascinating and harrowing in equal measure...' -- Daily Express 'An incredible journey of rediscovery.' -- This Morning, ITV 'There are moments of profound insight ... read this book and then hide it from the kids!' -- Jewish Telegraph 'The mantra of sex'n'drugs'n'rock'n'roll might have been coined for Reva Mann ... the book at times makes one gasp aloud, she has done a service by opening a window on the strictly Orthodox world.' -- Jewish Chronicle 'Gripping, harrowing and devastatingly honest.' -- Naomi Alderman 'A fascinating journey ... This is a searingly honest account of one woman's struggle with her faith and her health.' -- The Good Book Guide 'Makes for riveting, compulsive reading.' -- Elle Magazine USA 'For all her industrious bad behaviour, it is the quieter episodes of this candid memoir that are the most interesting; illuminating a quest of universal interest and fascinating local detail' -- Daily Mail 20080411

Author Information

Reva Mann is the daughter of a highly respected, orthodox London rabbi and granddaughter of the Chief Rabbi of Israel. Reva grew up in central London and moved to Israel in 1979. She lives in Jerusalem with her three children.

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