Mary E. Carter, Author

I, Sarah Steinway — A Novel —

arah Steinway survives a catastrophic flood by moving into her treehouse located on the northern shoreline of the San Francisco Bay. Sarah, aged seventy-five, observes from her perch a rise in sea level that engulfs the entire landscape for as far as she can see. With snark and pluck, she survives in her treehouse for five years. She records the flood, narrates her survival, and leavens her story with gusts of biting humor. Somewhat sheepishly as a secular Jew, Sarah turns for comfort to Torah. Instead of finding solace, she engages in tart argumentation with God, raising her fists, shouting the eternal Jewish question: ‘Why me?’ “The whole book could be considered a postdiluvian midrash.” —Rabbi Deborah J. Brin, Mishkan of the Heart Winner 2018 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards Finalist National Jewish Book Awards - Debut Novel “An utterly original imagining of a post-apocalyptic world, lightly using the tropes of dystopian and disaster fiction while depending on ingenuity and emotional depth to carry the story.” —Quarter-Finalist Publishers Weekly — BookLife Prize “Carter’s captivating, vividly imagined tale unfolds with terrifying beauty as protagonist Sarah Steinway grapples with survival in a future climate change disaster. Carter’s novel is an utterly original imagining of a post-apocalyptic world, lightly using the tropes of dystopian and disaster fiction while depending on ingenuity and emotional depth to carry the story. Savvy cultural references bring an immediacy and freshness to the text.” — Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize Critic’s Report Imaginative technique of Midrash (homiletic expansion on the primary text) to make her points. “Apocalyptic novels may not be your cup of tea (or glass of Chateau Lafitte in the case of this book’s eponymous character), but I, Sarah Steinway is yet another example of excellent, witty, and thought-provoking writing by Mary E. Carter. Water featured prominently in her previous work, A Non-Swimmer Considers Her Mikvah, and Carter returns to water, this time of the flood variety, in her latest novel. Our heroine is quite a character and knows just how to use the imaginative technique of Midrash (homiletic expansion on the primary text) to make her points from a Jewish perspective. And while Sarah spends the bulk of her time alone in a treehouse, we are eventually introduced to a pair of “out-of-this-world” rabbis. Each chapter of this book cites a passage from the classic ethical Jewish treatise, Pirke Avot, so I suggest you drink in Carter’s words thirstily (Pirke Avot 1:4) and put on your galoshes for a wild ride with Sarah Steinway.” —Rabbi Jack Shlachter, Judaism for Your Nuclear Family, physicsrabbi@gmail.com – www.physicsrabbi.com “Despite being self-declaredly secular, the very vernacular of Sarah’s impassioned arguments with God place her squarely in a long line of Jews shaking their fists at the disputed heavens.” —Faber Academy Reader “Sarah Steinway is a stubborn, angry, resourceful, funny, inquisitive and independent woman. Those traits help her survive in Mary E. Carter’s thought-provoking debut novel . . . Sarah is the joyful, complex hero-figure in Carter’s post-apocalyptic novel set in the not- so-distant future.” — David Steinberg, Albuquerque Journal “The character of Sarah Steinway is indeed a human being; feisty, flawed and utterly engaging. Highly recommended.” — Sheryl Stahl, Director, Frances-Henry Library, HUC-JIR, Los Angeles $15.50 ISBN 978-0-692-98524-3 Paperback 212 pages Published by Tovah Miriam Gershom Available from Ingram or from Amazon.com or by Consignment

Cover I, Sarah Steinway by Mary E. Carter

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I, Sarah Steinway Finalist Debut Novel Category - 2018 National Jewish Book Awards Sarah is an antihero for our age: a seventy-five-year-old woman, armed with her own chutzpah and wit, a cowboy hat, a rabbinical ordination, and a shotgun that she’s still figuring out how to use. The novel is set in the near future, in which a global flood is steadily devouring the houses and Costcos of the world, but I, Sarah Steinway has a sensibility and an immediacy that grounds us and grips us from the opening scene. Sarah wrestles with both her physical and spiritual survival. As a self-identified secular Jew faced with an apocalypse of biblical proportions, she turns to religion — not necessarily for answers, but for survival tactics. This book, and its protagonist, are never afraid of confronting the Big Questions, nor content to settle with easy answers. The storytelling is by turns very funny and very serious, confident and uncompromisingly weird. Mary E. Carter has a voice with unquestionable power, and we look forward to reading more from her. —Judges’ Remarks —Review from Jewish Book Council— By Inger SaphireBernstein – April 9, 2019 Sarah Steinway, seventy five years old, is a survivor of the catastrophic Emperor Floods that covered the Pacific coast cities and erased the boundaries of the San Francisco Bay, leaving no dry shore until New Mexico. With a manual typewriter, in her treehouse perch above the black waters of the former San Francisco Bay, she describes her experiences for future readers (if there are any). She writes of death, beauty, and savagery (there is an unforgettable scene of a vicious battle between shorebirds). She meets several interesting survivors who arrive at her treehouse, including two rabbis. And she starts to think about God and turns to the Torah. As with most dystopian novels, the reader is anxious to know the cause of the killing catastrophe. Apparently, at first, the water level increases of an inch or two every other week were barely noticed. The people were told it was ‘fake news’ and that reports of rising waters were false, going against visual evidence; most people complied. Periodic high tides and flooding suddenly became the Emperor Floods that drowned all before it and never receded. This is a very Jewish novel. Sarah provides midrashim (commentary) on the Torah. We are treated to an interview with Noah’s wife, an explanation as to why Pharaoh’s daughter drew Moses out of the Nile, and a return to Noah and God’s promise to never again flood the world. Quotes from Pirkei Avot head each chapter. Aside from these formal efforts, Jewish references crop up frequently. Sarah writes lovingly about her husband Daniel, her bashert. She recognizes a congruence with Sarah in the Torah, who laughed when told she would give birth at ninety, while Sarah Steinway births a treehouse at seventy-five. And Sarah Steinway says she will not be edited out, like Noah’s wife and Sarah. Oddly, many of the people Sarah meets before and during the flood are Jewish; drowned Marin County might be a shtetl given its density of Jews. One element in the novel is particularly perplexing. Sarah has several opportunities to go to higher ground in New Mexico – to “choose life” rather than bear survival. She chooses to remain in her treehouse, close to her greatest love, her Taliesin house, designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. Her love for the house is woven into her love for her late husband, Daniel. In the Acknowledgements, Mary Carter describes the novel as a love letter to her Taliesin home. Proximity to a drowned house seems like a poor trade-off for years of solitude and deprivation above a catastrophic flood. Perhaps one has to love a house deeply to understand. Inger Saphire-Bernstein is a health policy professional with extensive experience across multiple health care delivery settings and the insurance industry. She has published a number of articles and papers in the health policy field.

I, Sarah Steinway — A Novel —

Sarah Steinway survives a catastrophic flood by moving into her treehouse located on the northern shoreline of the San Francisco Bay. Sarah, aged seventy-five, observes from her perch a rise in sea level that engulfs the entire landscape for as far as she can see. With snark and pluck, she survives in her treehouse for five years. She records the flood, narrates her survival, and leavens her story with gusts of biting humor. Somewhat sheepishly as a secular Jew, Sarah turns for comfort to Torah. Instead of finding solace, she engages in tart argumentation with God, raising her fists, shouting the eternal Jewish question: ‘Why me?’ “The whole book could be considered a postdiluvian midrash.” —Rabbi Deborah J. Brin, Mishkan of the Heart Winner 2018 New Mexico- Arizona Book Awards Finalist National Jewish Book Awards - Debut Novel “An utterly original imagining of a post-apocalyptic world, lightly using the tropes of dystopian and disaster fiction while depending on ingenuity and emotional depth to carry the story.” —Quarter-Finalist Publishers Weekly — BookLife Prize “Carter’s captivating, vividly imagined tale unfolds with terrifying beauty as protagonist Sarah Steinway grapples with survival in a future climate change disaster. Carter’s novel is an utterly original imagining of a post- apocalyptic world, lightly using the tropes of dystopian and disaster fiction while depending on ingenuity and emotional depth to carry the story. Savvy cultural references bring an immediacy and freshness to the text.” — Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize Critic’s Report Imaginative technique of Midrash (homiletic expansion on the primary text) to make her points. “Apocalyptic novels may not be your cup of tea (or glass of Chateau Lafitte in the case of this book’s eponymous character), but I, Sarah Steinway is yet another example of excellent, witty, and thought-provoking writing by Mary E. Carter. Water featured prominently in her previous work, A Non-Swimmer Considers Her Mikvah, and Carter returns to water, this time of the flood variety, in her latest novel. Our heroine is quite a character and knows just how to use the imaginative technique of Midrash (homiletic expansion on the primary text) to make her points from a Jewish perspective. And while Sarah spends the bulk of her time alone in a treehouse, we are eventually introduced to a pair of “out-of- this-world” rabbis. Each chapter of this book cites a passage from the classic ethical Jewish treatise, Pirke Avot, so I suggest you drink in Carter’s words thirstily (Pirke Avot 1:4) and put on your galoshes for a wild ride with Sarah Steinway.” —Rabbi Jack Shlachter, Judaism for Your Nuclear Family, physicsrabbi@gmail.com – www.physicsrabbi.com “Despite being self-declaredly secular, the very vernacular of Sarah’s impassioned arguments with God place her squarely in a long line of Jews shaking their fists at the disputed heavens.” —Faber Academy Reader “Sarah Steinway is a stubborn, angry, resourceful, funny, inquisitive and independent woman. Those traits help her survive in Mary E. Carter’s thought-provoking debut novel . . . Sarah is the joyful, complex hero-figure in Carter’s post-apocalyptic novel set in the not-so- distant future.” — David Steinberg, Albuquerque Journal “The character of Sarah Steinway is indeed a human being; feisty, flawed and utterly engaging. Highly recommended.” — Sheryl Stahl, Director, Frances-Henry Library, HUC-JIR, Los Angeles $15.50 ISBN 978-0-692-98524-3 Paperback 212 pages Published by Tovah Miriam Gershom Available from Ingram or from Amazon.com or by Consignment

Mary E. Carter ~ Author