Publication Date: September 9, 2025
The beloved author of Not Our Kind and The Dressmakers of Prospect Heights returns with a story of secrets, friendship, and betrayal about two young women at Vassar in the years after World War II, a powerful and moving tale of prejudice and pride that echoes the cultural and social issues of today.
Anne Bishop seems like a typical Vassar sophomore—one of a popular group of privileged WASP friends. None of the girls in her circle has any idea that she’s Jewish, or that her real name is or that her real first name is Miriam. Pretending to be a Gentile has made life easier—as Anne, she no longer suffers the snubs, snide remarks, and daily restrictions Jews face. She enjoys her college life of teas, late-night conversations, and mixers. She turns a blind eye to the casual anti-Semitism that flourishes among her friends and classmates—after all, it’s no longer directed at her.
But her secret life is threatened when she becomes fascinated by a girl not in her crowd. Delia Goldhush is sophisticated, stylish, brilliant, and unashamedly Jewish—and seems not to care that she’s an outcast among the other students. Knowing that her growing closeness with Delia would be social suicide if it were discovered, Anne keeps their friendship quiet. Delia seems to understand—until a cruelty on Anne’s part drives them apart and sends them scattering to other corners of the world, alone and together.
Anne Bishop wants nothing more than to fit in among the students at Vassar, even if it means shaping a new identity for herself.
Set in the aftermath of World War II, author Kitty Kitty Zeldis highlights anti-Semitism in One of Them. Told in alternating perspectives between two characters, the storyline travels from Vassar to Paris to Palestine.
Anne knows revealing her full identity would make her the center of harassment, much like Delia, the openly Jewish girl. While she is curious about the girl targeted by Anne’s group of friends, Anne isn’t about to defy them.
The target on Delia’s back takes a dramatic turn, leaving Anne full of regret. Their fates, however, are interwoven as Anne attempts to find a way to repair their friendship through a connection with art.
One of Them showcases secrets and betrayals along with efforts to make amends.
The author of Not Our Kind and The Dressmakers of Prospect, Kitty Zeldis is the pseudonym for a novelist and nonfiction writer of books for adults and children. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.
