Games We Played

"Skillfully written and deeply felt, Games We Played explores the important and, unfortunately persistent, issues of anti-Semitism, racism, and bigotry through the eyes of an array of people you will be glad to have met." Vivian Dorsel, Publisher of Upstreet Magazine

Shawne Steiger's clear-eyed and unflinching Games We Played captures the way trauma can distort lives and cascade from generation to generation to beget more trauma--and, in our too-angry world, how it can collide with the pain of others in explosive ways. This is a book for our times." - David Ebenbach, author of Miss Portland

When actress Rachel Goldberg shares her personal views on a local radio show, she becomes a target for online harassment. Things go too far when someone paints a swastika on her front door, not only terrifying her but also dredging up some painful childhood memories. Rachel escapes to her hometown of Carlsbad. To avoid upsetting her parents, she tells them she’s there to visit her Orthodox Jewish grandmother, even though that’s the last thing she wants to do. But trouble may have followed her.

Stephen Drescher is home from Iraq, but his dishonorable discharge contaminates his transition back to civilian life. His old skinhead friends, the ones who urged him to enlist so he could learn to make better bombs, have disappeared, and he can’t even afford to adopt a dog. Thinking to reconnect with his childhood friend, he googles Rachel’s name and is stunned to see the comments on her Facebook page. He summons the courage to contact her.

Rachel and Stephen, who have vastly different feelings about the games they played and what might come of their reunion, must come to terms with their pasts before they can work toward their futures.