Spotlight: The Very Unremarkable Life of Mrs. Etty Bloom

In the insulated Hasidic community of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, tradition and cultural norms are as sacred as religion. Childhood friendships are cultivated to climb social ladders, matchmakers dictate futures, and young girls are primed for marriage and motherhood.  

So, when Etty Greenberger, a headstrong redhead and the only child of Holocaust survivors, commits one ugly and thoughtless act, she believes she has sabotaged her opportunity to secure a desirable match. Reluctantly, she agrees to marry Benji Bloom, a fishmonger’s son far below her marital aspirations, becoming Mrs. Etty Bloom. 

With each passing year, Etty grows further from the life she had hoped for, filled with disappointment and delusions of grandeur. As she grapples with loss, grief,  and the challenges of motherhood, she also discovers friendship, love, and joy in the most  unexpected places. It may take a lifetime, but Etty Bloom finally learns that an unremarkable life can be remarkable after all. 

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“A beautifully sad and unexpectedly funny representation of the myriad ways women retain a  sense of self in the midst of a patriarchal society.” 

—Sarah Yahm, author of Unfinished Acts of Wild Creation 

“With great humor and pathos, author Talya Jankovits reveals that all life, no matter how ordinary  or small, is extraordinary when lived fully. Etty Bloom is not only full of life, she is remarkable.” 

—Zeeva Bukai, winner of the Goldberg Prize for Debut Fiction for The Anatomy of Exile 

“Jankovits is a talented poet, and readers will be dazzled by her eloquent, moving, laugh-out-loud  hilarious, and sparkling prose in this fantastic debut novel…This lovely gift of a story inspires one  to recognize all there is to love about even the most unremarkable life.” 

—Toni Ann Johnson, Flannery O’Connor Award-winning author of Light Skin Gone to Waste 

Talya Jankovits is the author of the novel, The Very Unremarkable Life of Mrs. Etty Bloom (Running Wild Press), and the poetry collection, girl woman wife mother (Kelsay Books), which received First Place in Contemporary Poetry in the 2024 Bookfest Awards. Her essays, fiction, and poetry have been widely published. She is a multiple Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. She holds her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University and resides in Chicago with her husband and four daughters. Visit Talya at her website and on Instagram.

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