Sima's Undergarments for Women »

Ilana Stanger-Ross was born and raised in Brooklyn. Her work has been published in Lilith and The Bellevue Literary Revue. She is currently a student midwife at the University of British Columbia. She lives in Vancouver, Canada and Brooklyn, New York.

There are some life-long quests that all women have in common meaningful work, true love, and a bra that doesn t leave red marks on your skin.

In the comfort of her Brooklyn basement bra shop, Sima Goldner teaches other women to appreciate their bodies, but feels betrayed by her own. Shamed by her infertility and by a secret from her youth, she has given up on happiness and surrendered to a bitter marriage. But then Timna, a young Israeli with enviable cleavage, becomes the shop seamstress. As the two serve the colorful customers of their Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, Sima finds herself awakened to adventure and romance. Years after giving up on their marriage, Sima and her husband, Lev, must decide if what they have is worth saving.

With a gracefulness evocative of Amy Bloom and Alice McDermott, prizewinning writer Ilana Stanger-Ross has created a secret underground NewYork sisterhood where women of every shape and creed can come to share their...

Publishers Weekly

In Brooklyn's Borough Park, Sima Goldner runs a bra shop from her basement while tolerating her oafish husband, Lev, who lords over the upstairs. But when young and beautiful Israeli expatriate Timna takes the gig as the shop's seamstress, Sima confronts some long-hidden feelings, fears and impulses, and her formerly small life opens up. From the very first page, this is an assured narrative with an even surer voice; readers will know that they are in the hands of a real storyteller as Sima and Timna forge a partnership. Neighborhood subplots bubble along nicely as Stanger-Ross charts Sima's awakening and shows how Timna's arrival and continued presence affect Sima. The bra shop works wonderfully as a stage and forum for the many ladies who tromp through it. This ends up being much more than a novel of female bonding-it's a subtly powerful treatise on friendship, trust and love, written with plenty of verve. (Feb.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.