Praise for Her First American:

"[A] highly original mixture of drollery and catastrophe. . . . Her First American sneaks up on you. What begins as the comic adventures of a greenhorn ends up distilling the ironies and poignancies of Jewish-Black relations in America."
—The New York Times Book Review

 

"A wonderful novel . . . Her First American is boldly comic and full of startling scenes—to read it is to be exhilarated. It’s also the kind of incredibly rich book that can make a reader pause and examine his beliefs about racism, religion, the Three Stooges, and most of all—America the amazing."
—People

 

"Charm, warmth, humor, and a completely unsentimental compassion are exactly what Segal provides in this bittersweet, idiosyncratic love story. . . . A truly original novel."
—Newsday

 

"A quiet, funny, slyly affecting novel—one that always remains under delicate control while seeming to teeter on the edge of preciousness or sentimentality."
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Lore Segal (1928–2024) was born in Vienna and educated at the University of London. The author of Other People’s Houses, Her First American, and Shakespeare’s Kitchen (all published by The New Press) and other works, she was a regular contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, The New Republic, and other publications.