by Liz Kilstein
It is an oft-told story: inter-connected Jewish immigrants make good, then collide over the wedding that makes them family. Golden Country by Jennifer Gilmore (Scribner, $25.00) is a poignant and engaging novel about the Jewish-American immigrant experience, complete with difficult mothers, Eastern and Western European culture clashes, and the rags-to-riches fulfillment of the American dream. Major historical events — the Great Depression, World War II, the invention of television — only footnote the stories of the fictitious Brodsky, Bloom, and Verdonik families. Pushing personal dramas to the forefront, Gilmore skillfully renders eras past.