As a bookworm who is trying very hard to wean himself off of Goyishe novels, I find myself frustrated over and over again when trying to read a “frum” novel. The vast majority of the ones I’ve tried to read either
1. Have a unrealistic plot,
2. Are sloppy, i.e. plot holes and/or bad research,
3. amateurishly written or translated
ShragaF wants to read novels that are neither of the above. A lot of what was suggested to be read is at least one of the above.
ShragaR if you can get Mayer Bendet’s or Marcus Lehman’s books, I guarantee you they are very realistic, very good and original plots, and well written. In Marcus Lehman’s case, I guess the books printed a while ago are well translated as someone pointed out that the newer versions are edited.
I used to think that one of Mayer Bendet’s books-The Orphan, two volumes- is the only one that doesn’t have a realistic plot as it’s about a Nazi that married a Jewish woman. However, quite a few years later I read a real account of a Nazi that was engaged and almost got married to a Jewish woman after the Holocaust and in fact lived in Israel for awhile. That’s when I realized the plot was not that farfetched.
I started reading Every Man a Slave and don’t remember why I didn’t finish it. However I do remember being impressed at the style of the writing – it seems like a good book.
Exiles of Crodile Island by Henya Meyer was also a good, realistic and well researched book. I have not heard of her other book Fall of The Sun God that someone mentioned on this thread, but I think I want to read that next.
Even though Avner Gold’s books don’t have realistic plots (and I don’t think they are meant to be extremely realistic -they are rather historically informative in an entertaining way)I enjoyed reading them.