Kathryn Jacobi

Upside-down Coffee Kathryn Jacobi

Publisher Marketing: One-to-one, drop by drop - only people can make peace. Upside-Down Coffee is a about Ruth Shapira, a native New Yorker who trades her scripted life as the daughter of one professor and the wife of another for a very different life - in Israel. Her regular coffee date on a trendy promenade with three other American immigrants not only gets her through the week, it gives her an anchor in the stormy country she calls home - that is, until the Second Lebanon War breaks out. As she struggles to maintain her equilibrium while her son fights on the front lines and rockets fall continually, just an hour away from her home, Ruth becomes entangled with two women who turn her life upside-down. Yelena, a traumatized Russian immigrant from a northern border town that is under constant rocket fire, moves into Ruth's house for safety. Terrified at first, she holes herself up in the Shapiras' tiny bomb shelter, but a war tragedy presents her with an opportunity to overcome her fears. Samira, Ruth's Arab house cleaner, is a powerhouse of charisma and far too smart for her profession. She draws Ruth into a joint venture that is exciting, but potentially risky. Ruth's American-liberal values are on trial, and almost none of the tools she imported stand up to the reality of life in the Middle East. But in the end, she re-discovers what she always knew: that peace, if possible at all, can only evolve through every day one-on-one human relationships. Contributor Bio:  Jacobi, Kathryn Charlotte Zolotow is the author of over 75 books for children, including When the Wind Stops illustrated by Stefano Vitale, The Old Dog illustrated by James Ransome, and My Grandson Lew and William's Doll, both illustrated by William Pene du Bois. She lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. Kathryn Jacobi is a painter, printmaker and illustrator who exhibits her work in the U. S., Canada, and Europe. She lives in Santa Monica, CA, and Sechelt, British Columbia.