Publication Date: July 22, 2025
In this heart-warming and witty debut novel from a “Jewish Jane Austen” (Jill Kargman), three sisters chase love and grapple with the growing pains of young womanhood as they seek their place within and beyond their Syrian Jewish Brooklyn community.
The Cohen sisters are at a crossroads. And not just because the obedient middle sister, Fortune, has secretly started to question her engagement and impending wedding, even as her family scrambles to prepare for the big day. Nina, the rebellious eldest sister, is single at 26 (and growing cobwebs by her community’s standards) when she runs into an old friend who offers her a chance to choose a different path. Meanwhile, Lucy, the youngest, a senior in high school, has started sneaking around with a charming older bachelor.
As Fortune inches ever closer to the chuppah, the sisters find themselves in a tug of war between tradition and modernity, reckoning with what their tight-knit community wants—and with what they want for themselves.
Sisters of Fortune is a sister story about dating, ambition, and coming-of-age within an immigrant community whose affection is endearing, maddening, and never boring. This novel reckons with the roots that entwine our lives to the ones who love us best, the dreams we hold for our daughters—and the winding paths we take to our own happy endings.
Sisters of Fortune is a debut novel written by Esther Chehebar. This coming-of-age Jewish story revolves around three sisters, Nina, Fortune, and Lucy, who reside at home in Brooklyn with their parents and grandmother. The story is told in alternating chapters by each of the sisters, who are at different stages of their lives.
The family is of Syrian Jewish descent, and they adhere to their traditional religious practices and beliefs. The author does a great job of immersing the reader in their culture and way of life. We learn about their marriage traditions when Fortune is engaged and preparing for her wedding, even when she has doubts. From there, the other sisters meet their matches, and we see how their relationships unfold. The family dynamics are explored, including their jobs, food, celebrations, schooling, and how they work together to maintain their connection. The immigrant community in which they live is also highlighted.
The book is sprinkled with many foreign phrases, and the glossary at the end was helpful. We gain a look at and insights into how their days are spent, along with their interactions both within their family and with others. There are highs and lows throughout, along with happy occasions and some sadness. The ending was heartwarming, but it seemed rushed, and I was surprised that it ended so abruptly. An epilogue could have tied up a few loose ends and given closure.
Sisters of Fortune is a story filled with relationships and how their outlook on life shapes them. But throughout, their family life and religious beliefs shape their thoughts even when they think they are forging a different path.
Esther Chehebar is a contributing writer at Tablet magazine, where she covers Sephardic Jewish tradition and community, and a member of Sephardic Bikur Holim, a non-profit supporting the growing Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn. She holds an MFA from the New School and has had her work featured in Glamour and Man Repeller. Chehebar’s first book, I Share My Name, was an illustrated children’s book explaining the Sephardic tradition of naming children for their grandparents. She lives in New York with her husband, their kids, their Ori-Pei named Jude, and a couple of fish. This is her debut novel.
