90 Charles Street: Girlhood in an immigrant Jewish family in Greenwich Village

On 90 Charles Street in Greenwich Village, New York City, the doors do not close, and the dead and the living move seamlessly together.

Jennifer is raised to be seen but not heard in this religious Jewish household, where she becomes a keen observer of her immigrant family's jovial unhappiness while struggling to learn the quiet problem-solving abilities required of Orthodox women. Her mother, who fled from Switzerland in 1938, creates routines, regimenting every minute of the day, while her...