Not Our Kind

A Novel

By: Kitty Zeldis

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

“[An] enthralling portrait of a woman daring to defy convention in the face of rigid social confines…filled with thought-provoking turns that explore timely subjects in a gripping light...its themes linger long after the final page is read.”—USA Today

With echoes of Rules of Civility and The Boston Girl, a compelling and thought-provoking novel set in postwar New York City, about two women—one Jewish, one a WASP—and the wholly unexpected consequences of their meeting.

One rainy morning in June, two years after the end of World War II, a minor traffic accident brings together Eleanor Moskowitz and Patricia Bellamy. Their encounter seems fated: Eleanor, a teacher and recent Vassar graduate, needs a job. Patricia’s difficult thirteen-year-old daughter Margaux, recovering from polio, needs a private tutor.

Though she feels out of place in the Bellamys’ rarefied and elegant Park Avenue milieu, Eleanor forms an instant bond with Margaux. Soon the idealistic young woman is filling the bright young girl’s mind with Shakespeare and Latin. Though her mother, a hat maker with a little shop on Second Avenue, disapproves, Eleanor takes pride in her work, even if she must use the name ""Moss"" to enter the Bellamys’ restricted doorman building each morning, and feels that Patricia’s husband, Wynn, may have a problem with her being Jewish.

Invited to keep Margaux company at the Bellamys’ country home in a small town in Connecticut, Eleanor meets Patricia’s unreliable, bohemian brother, Tom, recently returned from Europe. The spark between Eleanor and Tom is instant and intense. Flushed with new romance and increasingly attached to her young pupil, Eleanor begins to feel more comfortable with Patricia and much of the world she inhabits. As the summer wears on, the two women’s friendship grows—until one hot summer evening, a line is crossed, and both Eleanor and Patricia will have to make important decisions—choices that will reverberate through their lives.

Gripping and vividly told, Not Our Kind illuminates the lives of two women on the cusp of change—and asks how much our pasts can and should define our futures.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book

Very good book. Narrator did a fabulous job. Wonderfully written: a great story with interesting characters.

I wanted to love it

I was very excited about this book a very good friend recommended it.
I really enjoyed parts of the book but something was missing and at the end I couldn’t wait for it to be over.
I really enjoyed the writing style .

Great Characters

Wonderful book with great characters that you grow to love. The plot is good, though the inherent bigotry of the time angered me, but the main character grows, thinks and feels deeply and affects (positively) everyone she encounters. At the end, everyone in the book grows. Very interesting story. Well-written.

Not what i expected

I’m not sure why, but I had thought this book would probably be centered around one particular character, her feelings and growth as a person. Instead, the book largely was controlled by events, not particularly unpredictable, with little character development or growth. I gave it 3 stars since it was somewhat engaging, nonetheless.

Not what I expected, very intriguing.

I loved the story and the characters were well-developed. The story moved quickly and I'd love to read a sequel.
The narration was "over the top: in several places, which was distracting.