Do Not Open for 50 Years — Patty Friedmann

In this final installment of the Too Jewish Trilogy, Darby Cooper, the daughter of Bernie and Letty whom we met in Too Jewish, has become a bestselling New Orleans author after the turn of the millennium, drawing on the tragedy of her father's life. Meanwhile, Hurricane Katrina has destroyed New Orleans. Letty has gone missing after the storm, leaving Darby perplexed and ambivalent. Daughter Honor has come back from evacuating to Florida with a boyfriend who claims he's a mobster and is, in all other ways, a betrayal of every core value Darby has rescued from her tragic and treacherous family history. As she struggles in temporary quarters in shattered post-Katrina New Orleans, Darby confronts long-lost high-school classmates who want to reunite, oblivious to the role their cruelty played in her father's death decades before. Darby's grief and bewilderment are the reader's, but they are easily tempered by her quick wit and humorous take at even the darkest moments.