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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
In Danila Botha’s A Place for People Like Us, Hannah meets Jillian during a night out and, after reconnecting in a university class, moves into her apartment, where their relationship centers on filming Jillian’s music and building a shared routine. While studying, Hannah is paired with Naftali Goldwater on a class project, and their connection draws her into his Orthodox Jewish family, where he explains that any future with him requires formal conversion. Hannah agrees to begin that process and enters a structured program of study, religious practice, and evaluation while still living with Jillian. As her involvement deepens with Naftali’s family and community, expectations around marriage take shape, placing Hannah in a position where she must decide whether to continue the life she has built or fully commit to the one she is entering.
Danila Botha’s A Place for People Like Us is a spectacular literary novel about a search for belonging, following Hannah as she moves through shifting environments, testing where she can exist with stability and recognition. Botha incorporates an excellent balance of both heartening and jarring moments. After the car accident, Hannah sits in a hospital room beside another person, tracking every movement as medical staff assesses injuries. Later, in Jerusalem, she leaves a Shabbat meal mid-evening after being told the food she prepared cannot be eaten, walking alone through unfamiliar streets and processing what that exclusion means. Botha is masterful in dichotomies, from the segregated formality of the Goldwater home and its ultra strict household rules, to the freedom of Jillian’s apartment, filled with music posters, scattered magazines, and recording equipment. Beautifully written and wholly immersive, this is women's fiction at its finest. Very highly recommended.
