The Two-Family House

March 14, 2016
Loigman's debut novel is an engrossing family saga set in post-war Brooklyn. It focuses on two families that are inextricably linked by blood, marriage, and a long-held secret. Brothers Abe and Mort took over their family box business when their father died, even though Mort had his heart set on studying mathematics. The brothers share a two-family house with their children and wives. As the story opens in 1947, wives Rose and Helen are themselves as close as sisters, happily bringing up their children together. Rose and Mort have three young daughters, and Helen and Abe, on the top floor, are bringing up four sons. Then, the two women get pregnant at the same time, deliver their babies together during a horrible blizzard, and make an instant decision to swap the babies that will change all of their lives forever. The story follows the brothers, their wives, and the children through decades. Loigman's use of shifting perspectives allows readers to witness first-hand the growing consequences of long-festering secrets and the insidious lies that cover them up. This historical family drama has a dark underbelly, but Loigman's decision to let the reader in on the secret allows the setting and mood of the novel take over as the characters move haltingly toward redemption and peace. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff & Associates, Inc
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January 1, 2016
A debut novel explores the intertwining lives of two Brooklyn families. Mort and Abe are brothers, and when they buy a Brooklyn brownstone together, their wives become fast friends. Abe's family lives upstairs, and Mort's lives downstairs. The families share work (Mort and Abe run their father's company together), play, and many meals. They also share certain frustrations. Mort's wife, Rose, bears three daughters, but Mort is desperate for a son and treats Rose cruelly in the meantime. On the other hand, Helen, who is married to the more gregarious Abe, has had four sons but longs for a daughter: she's lonely in her all-male household. Then Rose and Helen get pregnant at the same time. One winter night when their husbands are away and a blizzard has shut down New York, they both go into labor. That night, they make a decision that alters the course of their families' lives. Afterward, of course, nothing is the same. Loigman's debut novel is concerned with robust sentiments: hope, betrayal, yearning, disappointment. But she undermines those sentiments with banal details, like the color of a kitchen table, while skimping on details about her characters' inner lives. Loigman's writing doesn't quite support the emotional weight that the narrative requires of it; frequently, the prose buckles beneath the load. Intensity is expressed with exclamation points, which do much to raise the volume of the prose but little to heighten its potency or fervor. During one key scene, characters shout back and forth at each other: " 'That's a terrible thing to say!' 'Don't you dare raise your voice to me!' 'Hey--quit yelling at her!' " That Loigman mistakes clamor for vigor is unfortunate. She had the beginnings of a powerful work here. This compelling novel strains beneath its own aspirations and never quite comes to life.

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November 15, 2016

In the middle of a snowstorm in 1950s Brooklyn, two sisters-in-law go into labor at the same time. Their husbands are both stuck in the city on business. Two babies are born, a girl and a boy, and a fateful decision is made that will change the course of both families forever. Beginning in 1947 and ending in 1970, the narrative alternates between the two brothers, Mort and Abe, their wives, Rose and Helen, and two of their daughters, Judith and Natalie.

Read-Alikes Jennifer Gilmore's Golden Country, Binnie Kirshenbaum's Almost Perfect Moment, and Naomi Ragen's The Sisters Weiss.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2016
Rose and Helen share a very special bond. Their husbands are brothers, and they are raising their children, seven between them, in a shared duplex. When both women become pregnant again at the same time, then deliver only minutes apart while trapped at home in a blinding snowstorm, it seems the experience will only bring them closer. But Rose sinks into depression, becoming more isolated and petulant even as Helen increases efforts to help her. While their youngest children grow closer each year, Rose and Helen's relationship becomes fraught and eventually estranged. Behind the rancor is the impulsive decision of a moment, a choice they will have to live with for a lifetime, even as it destroys their friendship and creates a rift between their families, even when tragedy takes that which they hold most dear. This is a rich emotional journey through the heartache of regret and longing. In her first novel, Loigman uses complex characters to deconstruct the anatomy of family relationships and expose deep-rooted emotions, delivering a moving story of love, loss, and sacrifice.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)