Jewish authors are writing books across genres, and you can find the most captivating, thought-provoking, and entertaining books to add to your reading list, no matter your reading tastes or current reading mood.  These books are not limited to reflecting only Jewish culture and traditions.  They also explore universal themes you can find across all books, including but not limited to themes of love, loss, identity, and belonging that will resonate with readers of all backgrounds.

This list is only a jumping-off point to give you a place to start, but these books by Jewish authors promise to inspire, captivate, and leave a lasting impression on anyone who picks them up.  There is a lot of variety here, plus books are organized into categories, so hopefully, you will find and enjoy a new book!

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Romance Books by Jewish Authors

The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon 

Public radio co-hosts navigate mixed signals in Rachel Lynn Solomon’s sparkling romantic comedy debut.

Head Over Heels by Hannah Orenstein 

An electrifying rom-com set in the high-stakes world of competitive gymnastics.

The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer 

Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt is a nice Jewish girl with a shameful secret: she loves Christmas. For a decade, she’s hidden her career as a Christmas romance novelist from her family. Her talent has made her a bestseller, even as her chronic illness has always kept the kind of love she writes about out of reach for her.

Everything After by Jill Santopolo

The Light We Lost mixes with a touch of Daisy Jones and the Six in this novel of first love, passion, and the power of choice and how we cannot escape the people we are meant to be.

Books about Family & Friendship by Jewish Authors

Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart

Eight friends, one country house,and six months in isolation—a novel about love, friendship, family, and betrayal.

Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland 

Based on a true story, Florence Adler Swims Forever is a family saga about how far we will go in order to protect our loved ones.  It’s also an uplifting portrayal of how the human spirit can endure and even thrive after tragedy.

Morningside Heights by Joshua Henkin

When Ohio-born Pru Steiner arrives in New York in 1976, she follows in a long tradition of young people determined to take the city by storm. But when she falls in love with and marries Spence Robin, her hotshot young Shakespeare professor, her life takes a turn she couldn’t have anticipated.

Something Wild by Hannah Halperin 

A searing novel about the love and contradictions of sisterhood, the intoxicating desires of adolescence, and the traumas that trap mothers and daughters in cycles of violence.

Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Jewish Authors

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

A marvelous and absorbing debut novel about a chance meeting between two supernatural creatures in turn-of-the-century immigrant New York.

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid 

Inspired by Hungarian history and Jewish mythology, this novel follows a young pagan woman with hidden powers and a one-eyed captain of the Woodsmen as they form an unlikely alliance to thwart a tyrant.

The Light of the Midnight Stars by Rena Rossner 

Experience an evocative combination of fantasy, history, and Jewish folklore in this lush and lyrical fairytale-inspired novel.

The City Beautiful by Aden Poly­doros

Death lurks around every corner in this unforgettable Jewish historical fantasy about a city, a boy, and the shadows of the past that bind them both together.

Historical Fiction Books by Jewish Authors

The Slaughterman’s Daughter by Yaniv Iczkovits

The townsfolk of Motal, an isolated, godforsaken town in the Pale of Settlement, are shocked when Fanny Keismann – devoted wife, mother of five, and celebrated cheese-maker – leaves her home at two hours past midnight and vanishes into the night. 

Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr 

A gripping tale of a young, ambitious journalist embroiled in an international art scandal centered around a Nazi-looted masterpiece.

Those Who Are Saved by Alex­is Landau

A heartbreaking World War II novel of one mother’s impossible choice and her search for her daughter against the odds.

The Lost Shtetl by Max Gross

A novel about a small Jewish village in the Polish forest that is so secluded no one knows it exists . . . until now.

Literary Fiction Books by Jewish Authors

Happy for You by Claire Stanford 

A whip-smart, funny, affecting novel about a young woman who takes a job at a tech company looking to break into the “happiness market” even as her own happiness feels more unknowable than ever.

The Pages by Hugo Hamilton 

An entirely original novel in which a book–Joseph Roth’s masterpiece Rebellion–narrates its own astonishing life story, from 1930s Germany to the present day, at the heart of a gripping mystery.

Milk Fed by Melissa Border 

A scathingly funny, wildly erotic, and fiercely imaginative story about food, sex, and god from the acclaimed author of The Pisces and So Sad Today.

Anthologies, Essays, Story Collections by Jewish Authors

Sarahland by Sam Cohen

A debut story collection imagines new origins and futures for its cast of unforgettable protagonists–almost all of whom are named Sarah.

The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land by Omer Friedlander

Immersive and imaginative stories that transcend borders as they render the intimate lives of people striving for connection.

Fly Already by Etgar Keret

These stories take place at the crossroads of the fantastical, searing, and hilarious. The characters grapple with parenthood and family, war and games, marijuana, and cake, memory, and love. These stories never go to the expected place but always surprise, entertain, and move. 

Mysteries & Thriller Books by Jewish Authors

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo 

The adult debut from Leigh Bardugo is a tale of power, privilege, dark magic, and murder set among the Ivy League elite. 

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz 

A propulsive read about a story too good not to steal and the writer who steals it.

Care­ful What You Wish For Hal­lie Ephron

A novel about a professional organizer with a deadly problem she may not be able to clean up.

What do you think about these books by Jewish authors on this list?