Jewish writer Nomi Eve to speak about ‘Henna House’ at Temple Beth-El

Nomi Eve

“A heady mix of henna, history, and the power of words written on skin, sand, and paper. An engrossing, surprising, compelling read.”

– Indira Ganesan, author of “As Sweet as Honey,” in praise of Nomi Eve’s new book, “Henna House.”

Writer Nomi Eve is no stranger to Providence – she received her master’s degree in creative fiction from Brown University. Eve is a MacDowell Colony fellow whose essays and stories have appeared in The New York Times, Glimmer Train Stories, Voice Literary Supplement, Conjunctions and International Quarterly. She teaches full time at Drexel University, all while raising her three children with her husband in Philadelphia.  

Eve will be in Providence to talk about “Henna House” at 7 p.m. on May 24 at Temple Beth-El.

Eve’s father is from Israel and her mother is American. Her mother’s parents came to the United States as children fleeing the pogroms of Eastern Europe. As adults, they opened a bakery, and, Eve recalls, “Every Friday night our extended family gathered at the bakery for Shabbat dinner.”

Her paternal grandparents remained in Israel, and, as a child, Eve spent every summer with them on their moshav, which had an orchard, inspiring her first book, “The Family Orchard.”

Eve says, “I am who I am as a writer because of both of these heritages. The bakery and the orchard. America and Israel. I write in English, I am a student of English literature, and I am deeply connected to Jewish history and Israeli history through personal experience and stories.”

When asked why she writes Jewish fiction, Eve responded that her creativity is firmly rooted in Jewish history, whether she speaks of her ancestors or of personal familial experiences.

“The family tree tells me that the Maharal from Prague was my ancestor, as was Rashi and many other illustrious rabbis and scholars. But I am also related to someone named Dina from the 1500s, and a woman named Uta, a woman named Esther, and a woman named Nechama, all from centuries past. These women have no last names and left no treatises, no exegeses, no volumes of Talmud, they are not prominent figures in Jewish history. But they are my foremothers, so it is up to me and my fellow Jewish women writers to speak for them. So I do.”

In talking about one of her stories, Eve explains the relationship between her personal experiences and her fiction expertise.

“I’m inspired by family history, but in no way tethered to it. Family history and Jewish history are my diving boards. I have to have my feet firmly planted before I jump off into the unknown.”

Eve’s process is highly personal. “I am a visual and image-oriented writer. I will see a scene and want to make it real. I write from vivid pictures I see in my head, like a movie still. I write from and toward these images.”

In “Henna House,” Eve drew inspiration from her father’s cousin’s wife, who came to Israel from Yemen. The novel offers a window into the world of Yemenite Jewry – a culture now extinct due to pogroms after Israel’s founding.

Eve’s novel delves into the role of henna in the lives of Yemenite women, as well as the challenges that both Muslim and Jewish Yemenite women face.

The main character, Adela, faces the potential untimely death of her sick father, and worries that she will be removed from her home and given to a Muslim family if her father should die before she marries. The novel follows Adela on her journey, while bringing in the history of Operation on Wings of Eagles, a mission that brought thousands of African Jews to the newly formed state of Israel in 1949 and 1950.

On May 24, in addition to Eve’s talk, there will be a henna artist available,  as well as a spice tasting and a demonstration by the Not Just Spices shop on Hope Street. Grab your girlfriends, your book club members, your sisters, your daughters and your mothers – and maybe even the men in your life – and be transported back to 1920s Yemen with Nomi Eve and “Henna House.”

HILLARY SCHULMAN is a development associate at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.