Miller, Risa 1954(?)-

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MILLER, Risa 1954(?)-

PERSONAL: Born c. 1954; married; children: five. Education: Emerson College, M.F.A.

ADDRESSES: Home—Brookline, MA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010.

CAREER: Novelist.

AWARDS, HONORS: PEN Discovery Award for First Fiction, 2002, for Welcome to Heavenly Heights.

WRITINGS:

Welcome to Heavenly Heights, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS: Based on the author's personal experiences living in Israel with her family, Risa Miller's debut novel Welcome to Heavenly Heights depicts a way of life not often captured in fiction: the efforts of immigrant American Jews attempting to make a substantial link with their faith by making a new home in Israel. Through the lives of Tova, Debra, and Sandy, as well as their children and spouses, Miller depicts for readers what Philadelphia Inquirer reviewer Diane Scharper described as the "struggle to adjust to a country marked by hardship and deep religious faith, the one balancing and enlightening the other." Winner of the PEN Discovery award, Welcome to Heavenly Heights was the outgrowth of Miller's Master of Fine Arts degree; according to Jewish Week reviewer Sandee Brawarsky, the work is "a literary novel of characters and people rather than a story driven by plot. It is unusual in its knowing depiction of an Orthodox community, from the inside, with empathy and without satire or ambivalence."

Tova Zissie is the main protagonist in Welcome to Heavenly Heights. Dissatisfied with her job teaching English to Russian immigrants, she convinces her husband that the family would be better off among a wholly Orthodox community in Israel. The move from Baltimore finds Tova and her family in Building Number Four of the Heavenly Heights apartment complex on the West Bank, where their lives intersect with other U.S. expatriates and they attempt to deal with a new culture, homesickness, random violence, and the reality that, despite their efforts to come "home" to Israel they are ultimately strangers—perhaps even unwanted strangers—in a new land. Booklist contributor Meredith Parets praised Welcome to Heavenly Heights as a "sensitive and clear-eyed portrayal of a much-debated and misunderstood way of life," while in Library Journal Molly Abramowitz called Miller's fiction debut an "artfully" presented, "sobering yet sympathetic view of a parochial lifestyle." New York Times Book Review contributor Neil Gordon found much to like in what he termed as an "understated and ultimately heartbreaking first novel," noting that in her depiction of her characters and her portrayal of the novel's ultimate tragedy, Miller shows readers "the search for joy that lies at the heart of her [protagonist's] religious ritual and the beauty of people . . . who devote themselves to that search."