“Kraut writes an absorbing multigenerational family saga. The story begins in Russia and ends in New York City over a century later. Readers get acquainted with each generation"s family members and their trials and tribulations. I enjoyed reading this novel because the characters are so real and believable. Family dynamics are never easy and sometimes hurts and grudges do not fade with time. I was completely engrossed while reading, waiting to see what would happen next.”

Florence Reiss Kraut’s How to Make a Life is a sweeping saga of four generations, beginning with Chaya Amdur’s escape from a 1905 pogrom in Eastern Europe to start anew in New York. From Ida’s struggles as an immigrant mother to the triumphs and tragedies of the Weissman family through the decades, the story is rich with history, love, and resilience. I couldn’t put it down and didn’t want it to end. An incredible, unforgettable novel—★★★★★.

From the first sentence, I was swept into Chaya Amdur’s desperate flight from a 1905 pogrom in Ukraine with her two young daughters. What follows is an unforgettable saga spanning over a century—of tragedy, resilience, love, and survival through four generations. Each chapter brings a different family member to life, their struggles and joys vividly rendered. I laughed, cried, and felt every emotion alongside them. Florence Reiss Kraut’s storytelling is powerful, raw, and deeply moving. Highly recommended—my top read of the year!

Florence Reiss Kraut’s novel captures the sacrifices of Ida Amdur, who flees Ukraine in 1905 with her daughters to begin a new life in America. But survival comes at a cost—trauma lingers, passed down through generations as guilt, shame, and silence. Through Bessie, Ruby, and Jenny, we see how family bonds carry both love and resentment, how the past refuses to stay buried, and how choices ripple through time. Kraut’s mastery makes every emotion—hope, regret, jealousy, devotion—deeply felt. This isn’t a light read, but a powerful, heartbreaking story of survival, family, and the inescapable weight of history.

“The world of richly drawn characters in How to Make a Life transported me on a compelling emotional journey. In a story that brings the 20th Century to life, the powerful need to assimilate threatens the very bonds that ground an immigrant family with a sense of identity as four generations adapt to a culture that reinvents itself with every decade.”

“How to Make a Life is a novel about family itself—how to exist after unimaginable pain, acts of courage, secrets buried and revealed, that leave their glaring imprint on four generations of a Jewish family against the backdrop of history in the 20th century. Emotionally honest, rich, and deeply empathetic, this is a book for all of us nurtured in the tumult and soil of family”

“How to Make a Life grabs by the throat and heart from page one. It parallels the gut-wrenching horrors of war and mental illness, and the extraordinary and ordinary struggles and sacrifices family makes to survive. Our great grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, great-grandchildren, spouses, inlaws--family-- are the reasons we are who we are, for better, or worse, in sickness, and in health.”

"Florence Reiss Kraut has crafted a literary miracle. She took a century's worth of familial relationships and allowed the reader to enter into the emotional depths of her characters. Her experience as a family therapist is evident throughout the book, especially in her depiction of Ruby whose struggles with psychosis and the impact on family is as close a rendering of this particular challenge as any I have read - brilliant.”

How to Make a Life by Florence Reiss Kraut is a beautifully written historical novel that follows Ida, her daughter Bessie, and four generations of their family after emigrating from Ukraine to America in 1905. What begins as hope for a better life unfolds into a saga of love, loss, mental illness, forbidden relationships, and the search for unity. Kraut skillfully explores emigration, family bonds, and cultural identity with gorgeous prose and deeply human characters. A spellbinding, fast-paced family saga that lingers long after the final page.

Florence Reiss Kraut’s How to Make a Life begins with Chaya Amdur fleeing a 1905 pogrom in Ukraine with her two surviving daughters, Ida and Bessie, to start anew in America. Spanning five generations, the novel portrays love, loss, and resilience while confronting unspoken sorrow, intergenerational trauma, and mental illness. Kraut’s background in social work adds depth to her characters, making their struggles and hopes profoundly moving. An engaging and heartfelt debut that lingers long after the final page.

“In Street Corner Dreams, an intense multi-generational family saga, Florence Kraut follows up her hugely insightful first novel, How to Make A Life, with an equally profound and deep exploration into the lives and struggles of early 20th Century Jewish immigrants to NYC. With clean, crisp storytelling we can't help but be as seduced as her characters who are lured into the dangerous and seedy world of gangs, the Mobs and the infamous Murder Inc. A great page-turner of a novel.”

“Captured in beautifully written and tender descriptions of an immigrant family, the characters’ dreams coursed through me as I read Kraut’s story of grief, nostalgia, pity, and terror. Every word invited me to feel, care, love, and understand family, good and bad individuals, a struggling Brooklyn, and our country offering hope. This is writing at its most open, forgiving and tender—which is to say, this is a crucial, sense making, compassionate book that I couldn’t put down.”

“In her new novel, Street Corner Dreams, Florence Kraut weaves a dramatic story of family, romance, and suspense set in the Jewish neighborhoods of Brooklyn of the 1930s, where new immigrants are trying desperately to get ahead, and pressure from gangs is part of daily life. The characters all have dreams of a better life—of security and the opportunity to build something new. But dreams have their price, and irrevocable choices and sacrifices must be made. The enduring power of family is at the heart of this compelling read.”

“Street Corner Dreams will grip you like an afternoon soap opera, but as you follow these memorable characters you’ll also learn some fascinating hidden history. Florence Kraut has researched the Jewish gangs of immigrant Brooklyn and spun their stories into gold. The book is a tear-jerker at times, but also so much more. Kraut’s ear for dialogue and her ability to portray the small, telling gesture make the book a pleasure to read. You won’t forget the good Jewish son who gets drawn into the mob, or the strong Italian Catholic woman who tells him to quit if he wants to marry her. The book opens a chapter of history that most of us are unfamiliar with, and brings it to life.”

“The 1930s of Street Corner Dreams was an extremely challenging time — especially for Jewish immigrants to the U.S. Florence Reiss Kraut has crafted a compelling family saga with memorable characters swept up in the complexities of life in crowded Brooklyn tenements. Impacted by the Great Depression and omnipresent gangs, the author raises essential and enduring questions about the nature of love and family responsibility.”

“In this moving and suspenseful novel about an immigrant Jewish family in early 20th century Brooklyn, an era comes alive. When Gilda sacrifices the independence she came to the US to find, will she find love? Will Ben’s pursuit of an honest trade in gangster-ridden New York enable his family to survive? When Morty tangles with gangsters in an effort to save his father’s livelihood, will he ever return? I came to care about these characters, to root for them, and to be grateful for the close-knit community that helps them make their way.”

“In Kraut’s beautifully written, captivating tale of an immigrant family in New York City between the world wars, the Feinsteins struggle to attain their dreams. Sometimes love and sacrifice aren’t enough, but hope glimmers through for this unforgettable family that you will root for to the very end.”