Author, editor, attempter of this thing called life. Social anxiety warrior. Re-Connections, a collection of short stories, published with Ocelot Press, 15/10/2025.
I’m going to have to give up counting at this rate!
My friend, fellow author and fellow Jerusalemite, Melina Kantor, interviewed me for the Contemporary Romance Writers chapter of Romance Writers of America (RWA).
You can read the interview here.
We’ve been to Switzerland many times, with and without children. This time we did what we we always do. We rented an “apartment” – in this case one room the size of a small hotel room but with cooking facilities – and we went hiking, using our Swiss Pass to the full to get around the country on trains, buses and boats.
We had a lovely time. As we walked, we greeted the people we passed, and this is one of the fun things about Switzerland. Most of the time, we were in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, although German here is very different from the German I learned at school. The usual greeting is “Grussech” which apparently stands for “greetings to you”, but sometimes they say “greetings to everyone” or several other combinations. Some days we travelled to the French-speaking area and switched to “Bonjour.” In the Italian area, we said “Bonjourno.” The strangest walk was from the German-speaking to the French-speaking area, when we switched mid-walk.
But I want to tell you about three special encounters this time. The first was with one of the natives, and while I didn’t venture too close to her…
…the holiday wouldn’t have been the same without this one and all the others, crossing our paths, their bells dingling.
The second encounter was with someone you all know.
We had a most interesting conversation together, but I couldn’t interest him in my bookmarks. I had to admit that there’s no crime to investigate in my book.
The third encounter was with this couple:
We got into a cable car for four and they followed us. The man said, “My country is Kuwait.” We smiled and D said, “We’re from Israel.” A few eyebrows were raised. They smiled when D spoke a few words in Arabic. We took photos of each other. That’s all.
Yes, I have returned from my holiday, during which I had some interesting encounters, which I will relate in a different post.
But first, my second ever author interview. This one is by Fiona Mcvie and it’s here.
The sun is shining, birds are twittering and peace has returned to my home country. Long may it last.
I’m not here. That is… I’m somewhere, but I’m not around as I should be to announce my guest post on Jane Bwye’s blog. Jane, who has lived for most of her life in Kenya, is the author of Breath of Africa, a novel dedicated to the youth of Kenya.
So I scheduled this post in advance.
My guest post is about Toastmasters, which I joined recently. You can find it here. If it’s not there yet, it soon will be. And it’s partly to celebrate my birthday, which was yesterday.
Back soon….
Since Neither Here nor There is my first published book, this is the first time I’ve taken an interest in reviews as a writer. As a reader, I’ve skimmed through reviews to get an idea of whether I might be interested in a book. As a writer, reviews of my book become a lot more significant. They can vastly influence sales, and I want my book to sell because I want to become known as an author, I want people to enjoy reading it and to think about the issues raised in it and I want to make some money (although my expectations are realistic).
So what do I want from a review? Well, it’s always nice to be praised, as long as the praise seems honest. But no book can be liked unequivocally by all readers. There will always be some who find something negative, be it the genre, the writing style, the plot, the characters, the level of editing.
Even as I was writing Neither Here nor There, it was clear to me that readers who hold certain religious beliefs would have specifc problems with it. Esty, my heroine, is in the process of leaving one community for another. Clearly those who belong or are close to the community she is leaving will have problems with the story, despite the fact that I did my best to be fair to both.
I’m sure there will be readers who have different problems with the novel, and I think all those problems should be reflected in the reviews. That’s why I’m pleased to have received my first non-five-star review, and why I hope there will be more.
Although five-star reviews are welcome, too. More than welcome!
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Here are the reviews so far:
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is well-written and kept me turning the pages to find out what would happen next. Esty, the main character, is very well-drawn and I was with her all the way as she struggles to establish her identity in a world which is new and puzzling to her. This novel achieves the often difficult balance of raising thought-provoking questions while, at the same time, providing an entertaining and satisfying read. The result is a poignant love story and more than that. I would definitely recommend it.
I read this lovely book almost in one sitting (well, reclining, actually, since I was in bed). I was drawn in from the first sentence. Esty has spent all her 19 years in the strictly orthodox haredi community in Jerusalem but decides to leave it and her parents and many siblings. The decision is difficult and Esty is unprepared for what she will find on the secular side of the fence. The character of Esty is well-drawn and the author conveys very convincingly the anguish of being an outsider. This is a fluently-written, heart-warming story.
started reading miriam drori’s book NEITHER HERE NOR THERE and can’t put it down…love the characters…the writing and the story…her first-hand knowledge of the settings make them very real…a good book!
A sweet, enjoyable romance that does a good job of portraying the angst of first love, especially when one is somewhat socially awkward and unsure of oneself. Many of us have been there and can identify with the hero and heroine. I have to admit that as an Orthodox Jew I had a problem with one of the dominant themes of the novel—Estee’s leaving her closed Orthodox community for secular “freedom”. I credit the author with trying to be even-handed, rather than taking sides, but must caution that some literary license was used in portraying Estee’s family’s community.
This is a beautifully-written book, with believable characters and a very real sense of place (both in Jerusalem and London). Esty’s dilemma (torn between her loyalty to her family and her strong desire to follow her own path in life) is perfectly portrayed in a very readable and accessible way. Highly recommended.
I don’t pretend to know enough about the politics and society of Scotland, and the rest of the world, to be able to forecast a possible direction that Scotland will take if and when it becomes independent. But here’s one man with an interesting idea, and he’s written a novel about it: David Brauner.
In ANOTHER GOD: a novel of Independent Scotland, D.r. Brauner unfolds a speculative tale of imagination that opens in Edinburgh and reverberates across the Mediterranean. Through the prism of fiction emerges a kaleidoscopic picture of Scotland’s near-future sovereign reality. This is the book that could sway the outcome of the Scottish referendum.
This book has been praised by some knowledgeable people.
Reva Sharon, author of Pool of the Morning Wind:
A very brave book.
Leslie Cohen, Jerusalem Post:
Set a few years into the future … the novel gives one the feeling of being there.
A.S.I. Acker, Amazon:
Strange, fascinating, and serious… This book is one of a kind, a great feat of imagination, firmly rooted in reality. A novel to be read more than once, each time with deeper appreciation.
What if…? The speculative fiction depicted in ANOTHER GOD has not come to life, not yet. But it could – after Scotland achieves independence. A rabbi’s dream could change the trajectory of one nation and save another nation from destruction. A prime minister’s Machiavellian patriotism could launch a new nation-state on an aimless course into oblivion. One woman’s miracle can produce a love-child. And another woman’s strength and daring might rescue a thousand lives. Scotland’s future history is yet to be written – or is it?
BIO
D.r. Brauner is a writer, editor and photographer. He was born in England, raised in America and holds an MLitt in English Linguistics from the University of Edinburgh. He wrote and photographed for The Jerusalem Post for fifteen years. During the last twenty-five years, he has edited academic papers and books and was the language editor of Yad Vashem Studies Holocaust journal from 2007 to 2014. From the early 1990s to this day, he has mentored a Creative Writing Circle in Jerusalem that has produced hundreds of memoirs, essays, short stories and novels, not a few of which have been published. Wherever David is, he is living in another world of images and books, kites and bikes, hopes and dreams. In this world life is all the better for having met his wife Ruth and finding their sweet dog Daisy.
I can’t tell you how likely it is that David’s forecast will come true. But I can tell you he’s an excellent writer. I read and thoroughly enjoyed an earlier version of this novel. As the mentor of the writing group of which I’m a member, David always comes up with ideas for improving our writing that none of the other members thinks of. We are all indebted to him.
ANOTHER GOD: a novel of Independent Scotland is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US, and will be on FeedARead very soon.
Some of you may have seen the quotes I posted recently on Facebook and Twitter, all from my novel, Neither Here Nor There. In case you didn’t, or you want to see them again, here are all seventeen:
Neither Here Nor There by Miriam Drori is available from Amazon, Smashwords, Crooked Cat Books and The Book Depository.
The last stop in my blog hop is at the blog of Tim Taylor, who lives near Huddersfield. I had to look up Huddersfield and found it between Manchester and Leeds, in other words, for this ex-Londoner, “Oop north.” Tim is the author of Zeus of Ithome, a novel set in ancient Greece.
I talk about setting a novel where you live, and about setting a novel in a place you’ve never been to. Here.
So here is the complete hop:
| 18 June | Catriona King | My Route to Publication |
| 20 June | Cathie Dunn | The Background to my Novel |
| 22 June | Sarah Louise Smith | Arranged Marriage |
| 22 June | Jeff Gardiner | Life-changing Decisions |
| 6 July | Nancy Jardine | Closed Communities |
| 11 July | K B Walker | On Emigration from Britain |
| 22 July | Sue Barnard | Who Writes about Place? |
| 8 August | T.E.Taylor | Writing about the place you live in and places you haven’t been to |
Thank you to all three people who went in for my competition. You all had some great ideas, which I really enjoyed reading.
Technically, the winner is Sue who translated three of the words correctly. In second place is Jo, who was almost correct in two of her answers. But all the answers made me smile and I think all three deserve a prize. Congratulations! Let’s get in touch….
Miriam Drori, Author