Tova Reich

Tova Reich (born in Liberty, NY and lives in Chevy Chase, MD) [Grew up in a prominent Jewish family; her father was a rabbi and her brother is the well-known activist Rabbi Avi Weiss. She earned a B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1964 and an M.A. in English Literature from New York U. in 1965. Traveled extensively and lived for periods in the ultra-Orthodox quarter of Jerusalem, Israel, as well as in Varanasi, India. Over her four-decade career, she worked as an editor and university professor, including teaching in the MFA program at the University of Maryland. In 1965, she married Walter Reich, a psychiatrist who later served as the first director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Highly acclaimed for her provocative, satirical fiction that explores Orthodox Jewry, zealotry, and religious excesses with sharp wit. She has published numerous novels—including Mara, The Jewish War, My Holocaust, and Camp Jeff—and her short fiction has won the National Magazine Award.

Tova Reich does not write conventional mystery or thriller fiction, but she frequently utilizes crime, fraud, and illicit schemes as central narrative engines for her dark, satirical Jewish fiction. Instead of a classic “whodunit” framework, Reich approaches the intersection of “Jews and crime” through a lens of biting communal satire. She exposes characters who commit white-collar fraud, capitalize on trauma, or break laws in pursuit of religious or political fanaticism.

Reich, Tova, (My Holocaust [hc, Harper, 2007]) 978-0061173455 [pb, Harper Perennial 2008] 978-0061173479 [Tackles the commodification of historical trauma through a multi-generational criminal enterprise. The narrative follows a father-and-son duo, Maurice and Norman Messer, who operate “Holocaust Connections Inc.” Under the guise of holy remembrance, they engage in lucrative scams, including selling counterfeit Holocaust victim certificates and siphoning funds to seize control of a United States Holocaust museum. Crime here serves as a metaphor for the manipulation and exploitation of communal guilt.

Reich, Tova, (Camp Jeff [pb, Seven Stories Press, 2024]) 978-1644214213 [Reich pivots directly toward contemporary criminal headlines by crafting a satire deeply inspired by the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein. The story is set at a converted hotel in the Catskills purchased by a wealthy man named Jeffrey Epstein (distinct from the historical figure). He establishes a re-education camp for alleged sex offenders caught up in the MeToo movement. Reich utilizes the backdrop of sexual deviance, legal fallout, and institutional confinement to dissect intersectional themes of misogyny and rising antisemitism.

Reich, Tova, (The Jewish War [hc, Pantheon Books, 1995] 978-0679439875 [pb, Syracuse UP, 1997]

978-0815604525 [Reich utilizes the motifs of political violence, illegal weapon hoarding, and militant extremism. The narrative tracks a radical group of Jewish settlers who break away from conventional Israeli governance to declare an independent kingdom. The narrative driver is fundamentally political crime and armed insurrection, drawing direct narrative parallels to a modern-day standoff reminiscent of Masada. - Google/AI]