The idea of this book is so good, but the execution is poor. It's very basic, never goes any deeper than surface level. Plain, basic, nothing special book that could have been great with more deep, profound writing.

Sending a heartfelt thank you to both Net Galley and She Writes Press for both the arc of this book and for trusting in readers like myself who manage to enjoy reading in between busy lives.

Historic Fiction, as my forever favorite genre had me longing to read this book from the moment I saw it in Net Galley and I was not disappointed.

“Sweet Corner Dreams” shares the story of The Feinstein family who immigrate to New York City, residing in Brooklyn before World War 1. Life is not always easy for those coming to a foreign country, full of hopes and dreams. The family is faced with the wrath and greed of gangs and I order to survive, the family will need to make tough decisions. This story was well researched and timely making it both heartbreaking at times and delightful at others.

If you are as fond of historical fiction as myself, this one is a must.

Whoa! That was a lot of story packed between 300 pages. A sweeping family saga set between 1914-1941, this is the story of the early Jewish immigrant experience from the old country to New York. Golda and her pregnant sister Esther are traveling across the ocean to meet Esther’s husband who had already arrived and was living in Brooklyn. But tragedy would befall them during their travels and only Golda and a newborn baby boy would disembark. Life was hard in Brooklyn living among the Jewish and Italian gangs who threatened the shopkeepers to pay “protection money” for their safety. The depression left families destitute to do anything to survive. War was looming in Europe and antisemitism was on the rise in America. With strong themes of the sacrifices family make for themselves and one another and the resilience of a community of immigrants who shaped, for good and bad, life in America, this was a well researched historical fiction that packed an emotional punch.

Thank you NetGalley, She Writes Press and Florence Reiss Kraut, for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for my honest opinion. Publication date November 14, 2023.

Many thanks to NetGalley and She Writes Press for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a fantastic historical tale of life of immigrants in NYC in the early 1910's to 1941! Meet Ben and Golda Feinstein, who immigrated from Poland. You meet their family and friends as their created community develops and grows within their Brooklyn world. They face death, sickness, joy, hardship and poverty through the thirty years of the tale.

The Feinstein's also live among the Italian and Jewish gangs that ruled the city during prohibition up to WWII. Despite trying to steer clear of the gangs, they do become entangled in the start of organized crime. I was fascinated by the description of how the gangs developed and took advantage of the poverty, the struggles of the immigrants and the scheme of "protection" money.

Overall, this is a great domestic drama with well developed characters for which you just cannot help but have great empathy.

Highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. This story of Jewish immigrants coming to America in the early 1900’s was a moving, thought provoking book which will stay with me for quite some time. The story of Gilda arriving in America with her dead sister’s baby was how this story started, her marriage to the baby’s father, which ultimately turned into a love between Golda and Ben was the background of this story. The story’s main character became Marty the son, his growing up and his challenges and the path he chose toward adulthood. This story described the hardships of Ben and Golda trying to make a life in America and how one decision lead to trouble and heartbreak. The story spanned several decades with a somewhat satisfying ending. I would highly recommend this story, it was quick paced story and the length of the book was quite right in my opinion.

I chose this book to read as my mom grew up in this neighborhood of Brooklyn. She told me stories about the gangsters and their fancy cars and how they all tried to dazzle the young women to go out with them. Since the book takes place during the depression and then the war, these gangsters were alluring as most people living in this Brooklyn neighborhood were poor immigrants.

Overall Street Corner Dreams is an enjoyable read. The story is classic, an older sister in this case Golda, is accompanying her sister Esther to New York as she is pregnant and on her way to meeting her new husband Ben. With a series of unfortunate events, Golda’s life is forever changed when she lands in NY.

The first part of the book is about the immigrant experience, the hardships and the tight Jewish community that gathered to help each other out in the most difficult situations. As the story progresses, the book turns into a story about Golda’s family, her husband and son, and how the gangsters of the time worked their way into their lives, and what seemed at first a benign ask to a friend turned out to have dire consequences.

There were gangs of Jews and Italians, and they did not mix well. There was a great deal of separation in the two groups and a lot of ignorance about the how the other group lived. The story also gives us a firsthand account of how families had to figure out how to come together if they wanted to move forward.

All in all, I think Florence Reiss Kraut gave us a very accurate account of the times in an enjoyable story. I would recommend the book, and encourage people who want to know about immigrants, New York, and particularly Brooklyn to read it. I am sure she did her research and as my mother is from this area, it ran true to me.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this eARC.

This is a very good absorbing and engaging read following a family who emigrate to America just before WW1. The story follows their lives over a span of 30 years and their struggles during that time. I liked most of the characters, especially Morty, and think the authors writing is so good and descriptive I could picture the characters in my mind when reading. I think the author has captured the times she writes of so well and I felt such empathy for her characters and cared about what happened to them. I really liked the story being told through different characters and their perspectives and the hardships they faced. The pacing of the story is very good and I thought the ending gave perfect closure for the characters. This is a very good family drama that just drew me in straightaway and held my attention and interest to the last page.
If you are a fan of historical fiction and family drama I think you'd enjoy this and I would recommend this read.

4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you Netgalley and She writes press for this arc in rxchange for an honest review.
Wow what a story! I went in to this not knowing what to expect and found a beautiful, page turning story. A tale of one Jewish families life after they have moved to America set in the 1900's. Its a tale of family life ups and downs and hardships set against the background of both World Wars, the depression and the many gangs who owned the streets at that time. Dealing with growing up, grief and the consequences of each persons actions on the family.Told from multiple points of views the characters really jump from the pages and it feels like I really know them. Golda is such a wonderful complex female character I loved reading her narrative. This book will stay with me for a long time. If you love historical family sagas this is for you.

Immigrants...they come for a better life, they come to the land they've heard about, they've come to make their dreams a reality. Such is the story of two sisters, Golda and Esther. Arriving in New York City in 1914 it was only Golda who walked off the ship carrying a two day old baby. Accompanying her sister Esther to America to meet her husband Ben, Esther died on the ship giving birth to a baby boy. This was not Golda's dream. What was she going to do? How would she explain this to Ben? There were more questions than answers. The answers, however, were not part of her dream, no! When Ben meets Golda at the pier, their journey begins. They marry in order to take care of Ben's son, Morty. Living in Brooklyn they have a quiet and simple life, but as the years go by there is much drama...the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression. and the criminal gangs that spill into their lives. As we read this, we see how their lives are lived, as well as the influence of the Jewish religion that is in the background. However, during the Depression when money was difficult to come by, these gangs made it easy to get the money needed. For this family, it is Morty, now in his twenties, who brings the drama to a head.

While reading this book, you can see the norms of the era, how society feels about the different cultures, the different ethnicities: you read this and think society is different today, but not really.

This novel is well told, well crafted and quite compelling. Reading this story, you wonder how people like Golda and Ben have the strength to endure and I am quite sure this is more realistic than fictional. Highly recommended.

My thanks to NetGalley and She Writes Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If I were writing this on paper, it would be wet! This book moved me from start to finish. It is the story of a family, Golda, Ben, Morty and Sylvia. The family came together after
a hideous moment when Golda took care of her sister Esther’s newborn son after she died on the treacherous trip from Europe to America. Arriving in NY harbor is the the moment that the new family was formed. Ben and Golda marry to take care of the infant Morty. So begins this novel, with Morty being the unwitting center of the Feldstein family.

The novel follows the family through the years, difficult years, the Spanish flu, the Great Depression. Somehow they endure. It is Morty who is the catalyst for the events. All the characters are very likable and the story is compelling.

Kraut has written a stirring novel and a wonderful social history of immigrant lives, criminal gangs and coping with the depression. I couldn’t put it down. I loved an earlier memoir of immigrant struggles, STREETS by Bella Spewack, and I felt that this novel captured some of the richness of the real immigrant experience. I highly recommend this book and the Reader’s Guide which it contains.

Thank you Netgalley for this heartwarming novel of immigrants living in NYC between the wars.

My father grew up in a tough neighborhood in Brooklyn that was about half Italian and half Jewish. It marked him in several ways, most notably:

• He felt culturally Jewish, even though he was not observant. You get beat up enough times for being a “dirty Jew” it becomes hard to put that part of your identity in a closet, even if you wanted to;
• He preferred Italian food to Jewish cooking. He became an outstanding Italian-style chef. I’ve never had a lasagna as good as his!
• He wanted to get the hell out of New York as soon as he possibly could. He was horrified when I, in my early 20s, visited New York and said I thought it would be a fun place to live (as long as you had money).

Of course, that lack of money also had a profound influence on his life, and on the lives of thousands of other Jewish, Italian, Irish and other kids growing up in tough immigrant neighborhoods in the early 20th century. As a result, many were lured by the appeal of what looked to be easy money you could earn by joining criminal gangs. Florence Reiss Kraut explores this dynamic in her new book, Street Corner Dreams.

The book is centered around the story of Morty, whose mother died in childbirth while on a ship crossing to America. His mother’s sister, who had joined her on the crossing, sacrifices her dreams of getting an education and becoming a nurse in order to look after the baby, whose father is too distraught to be able to cope on his own.

As Morty grows up, he tries to stay away from the mobsters, even after his best friend joins one of the Jewish gangs. Yes, although most of us immediately think of the Italian mafia, there were plenty of criminal mobsters from other cultures, including Jews. Part of what I enjoyed about this book was seeing how a good kid who doesn’t want to be involved in gang activity can end up in it regardless.

In addition to showing the influence of criminal mobsters on everyday life in New York in the first half of the 20th century, the book also explores the realities behind other social forces in that era. What happens when a girl gets pregnant out of wedlock? Can a Jew and an Italian who are in love with each other transcend social barriers? How are marriage and family affected by secrets?

This easy-to-read story (which, at times, verged on being a tad too predictable), answers these questions. It also got me thinking about some of the children growing up in today’s American slums. No wonder so many of them end up involved in crime: it takes extraordinary talent, drive and luck to escape it. More people need to read books like this, which help those of us who live privileged lives understand and empathize with those who don’t.

Golda and her sister Esther come to America for a better life and to reunite Esther with her husband Ben who arrived earlier. Esther dies during childbirth but the baby Morty survives without a mother, so Gloria marries Ben so they are a family.
Times are very tough during the early part of the 20th century in Brooklyn New York, but they survive and try to make a better life for themselves. After they get married another son is born but dies during his illness that took so many other life's.
The story continues as Morty grows up and sets his sight on going to college and becoming an engineer. Times get really tough with the great depression and Ben is behind on rent and is desperate for money and Morty arranges for a loan to bail him out from a friend who is connected to the mafia. Things spiral out of control and Morty gets involved with the underworld and desperately tries to get away from this horrendous nightmare and has a steep price to pay.
This historical novel is so well written and one of the best books I have thoroughly enjoyed in years. Don't miss reading this gem.
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*4.5 stars *

It’s the early 20th century and emigrants from various parts of the world are setting sail with dreams of a new life in America. For some though, the dream has ended before they even reach their destination. This then is the backdrop for Street Corner Dreams.

Golda comes to America just before WWI, but before her dreams can even begin to take shape, she has to marry her widowed brother-in-law Ben, after her sister Esther dies aboard the ship giving birth to her and Ben’s son, Morty.

Living in Brooklyn they’re aware of the various gangs, the ones who demand protection money and carry out many illegal activities, but as long as they keep their heads down, the gangs won’t bother them, will they?

Ben, Golda and Morty live a simple life, and although they’re not well off, they managed to live within their means. However, as the Great Depression hits, things become increasingly desperate for Ben and he makes a decision that will alter his family’s life forever!

Gosh, this was an engaging and heartfelt portrayal of a Jewish family trying to make the best of a life thousands of miles from their home in Poland, trying to fit in and make sense of other cultures and religions. It follows the family right up until Morty is well into his twenties. The characters were realistic in their portrayal of this era and the difficulties they faced. It is a story of family duty, responsibility, love and secrets. Excellent. Highly recommended.

Such a great historical fiction read. My first read by this author and I think they did an amazing job describing the events. Everything about this book had me wanting more.