David Hirshberg
Author Interview - David Hirshberg
Author of Jacobo's Rainbow and Crossing the Bronx
About Crossing the Bronx:
Crossing the Bronx is an historical literary novel set primarily in the 1950s in The Bronx. It is a modern retelling of the Jacob and Esau story from Genesis. The narrative that propels the story forward concerns the destruction of a neighborhood in the guise of progress. Jay and Eric, the sons of Ike (an Italian Jew), and Rebekeh, (a Mountain Jew), are estranged—as are their parents—and find themselves on opposite sides of a bitter struggle that pits those in power against the defenseless people of a local community.
Eric has aligned himself with his father Ike, who by day is a cop—and at other times works surreptitiously for a mobbed-up construction company engaged in major projects transforming New York City—while his younger brother Jay is allied with his mother and with a neighborhood group fighting to preserve its very soul. Their fractious relationship speaks to the issues of how families split apart, and whether or not the pieces can ever be put back together.
In addition to sustained tension-filled action, Crossing the Bronx is a story of romance, commitments, beliefs, and triumphs over adversities (lies, theft, murder, concealment, prejudice). Through vivid descriptions, perceptive insights, humor and sensitivity, the reader identifies with the characters who come to life in a realistic fashion to illustrate who we are, how we behave, and what causes us to change.
The novel is fast-paced, with uncompromising realism, reflecting the unrelenting tension between antagonists and the anxieties that overwhelm those without power. The underbelly of the criminal and political world is evidenced by brutality, rapaciousness, and a never-ending desire to seek retribution. A love story between Jay and his girlfriend Francesca counter-balances the grimness to show how some people can overcome the odds stacked against them by their birth and places of origin. Smart, savvy women (Francesca, Rebekah, Francesca’s grandmother “Nonna Ebrea”—who thinks she is descended from Conversos—and Jay’s therapist Dr. Leah Silverman) provide a strong counterbalance to the lies, thefts, beatings, concealments, murders, and prejudice evidenced by the men.
It is populated by colorful Italian, Irish, Black, Puerto Rican, and Jewish characters from a variety of different backgrounds; the novel sparkles with dialogue that is representative of their respective cultures.
The book can be read on three levels: (1) The story of what it was like to have lived through the Depression and World War II era, and into the one that emerged after 1945—a society that was being altered almost unknowingly into something that would turn out to be significantly different in terms of social activism and ethnic politics; (2) A metaphor for what is going on in cities today, in terms of the conflicts between ‘ordinary people’ and powerful politicians and business interests; and (3) How a Jewish family emerges from dysfunction to find its way despite daunting implacable obstacles in its way.
The manuscript is a work of complete fiction; there is neither a character nor a scene that is remotely related to anything that deals with the author, his family, friends or acquaintances.
David Hirshberg is the author of the 2018 award-winning debut novel My Mother’s Son—which was the recipient of nine literary awards and starred reviews from the American Library Association and Library Journal and was twice ranked #1 on Amazon Kindle for Jewish American Fiction—as well as Jacobo’s Rainbow, published in 2021, also the winner of nine awards.
These three novels comprise the Mid-Century Trilogy, Hirshberg’s works that illuminate the 1950s and 60s, a time framed by World War II and the Vietnam War, when Jews began to shed their outsider status, and integrate into the fabric of American society, cloaked with both its goodness and strife.
About Jacobo’s Rainbow:
Jacobo's Rainbow is an historical literary novel set primarily in the nineteen sixties during the convulsive period of the student protest movements and the Vietnam War. It focuses on the issue of being an outsider -- the ‘other' -- an altogether common circumstance that resonates with readers in today’s America. Written from a Jewish perspective, it speaks to universal truths that affect us all. It uses the inconceivable events of the narrator's family’s life and the world in which he lived as a foil to deal with major issues that affect Americans today. It has been purposefully set in earlier times so as to provide some distance from the current ‘talking heads’ climate that instantly categorizes and analyzes events from a narrow, partisan perspective.
Author Interview - David Hirshberg
Author I draw inspiration from:
2026: Philip Roth: The Plot Against America; Patrimony; The Human Stain.
2021: Philip Roth
Author Interview - David Hirshberg
Favorite place to read a book:
2026: On the sofa in my home office.
2021: Sofa in my bedroom
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
2026: Josef Kavalier from Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon. Josef starts out as a magician and escape artist, so I willingly play the part of the "second banana", as he imagines how to escape and then implements his plan. At first, his plans seem hallucinatory -- utterly outlandish -- and while I admire his creativity, I begin to lose faith that he will eventually find a way to get out. I try relying on the tried and true methods: pushing the emergency button, banging on the door, crying out for help, but to no avail. But Josef scoffs at my attempts for freedom, and is persistent that he has devised a method will work. He tells me to hold my hands tight together, then steps on them, reaches to the ceiling, uses his pocket knife to pry loose the metal air vent, then tells me to lift him as high as I can. He reaches into the opening, and with my final push, grabs onto the cable that connects to the car. I yell up that if the elevator begins to move, he could be crushed if it reaches the top floor. He does not respond. He pulls the metal air vent up through the hole where it rested previously, Suddenly, I hear a loud banging that goes into for at least 30 seconds. A few seconds after it stops, I hear a voice from the corridor telling me to sit tight -- where else could I go? -- that help is on the way. Josef shimmies back down and drops to the floor next to me. The elevator begins to go down and stops in front of the first floor. A young man opens the door and we walk out. I ask the man how he knew we were stuck in the elevator. He replies that the Morse Code was so loud he heard it in the men's room. I turned to Josef. His slight head bob said I told you.
2021: Coleman Silk, in The Human Stain by Philip Roth
Author Interview - David Hirshberg
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
2026: I was having lunch with a friend of mine who is a partner in a well-known entertainment law firm responsible for representing authors. He mentioned that the business memos I wrote were set up like stories, unlike the traditional reports that crossed his desk. He asked if I had ever considered writing as a sidelight. I thought about this on the way home, but considered a novel as too daunting. When we next spoke, he suggested I try a short story and recommended a few that I should read to get a feel for how the best ones are composed. A few days later I started to write a short story by putting down the following words as the opening: "When you're a kid, they don't always tell you the truth." I began the story, which turned out to be the first chapter of my debut novel -- My Mother's Son.
2021: When I made the following comment to my wife: "When you're a kid, they don't always tell you the truth," which became the opening line of my debut novel, My Mother's Son.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
2026: Hardback: Like -- The elegance and the message it conveys. Dislike -- Nothing.
Paperback: Like -- Lighter than the hardback. Dislike -- Nothing.
ebook: Like -- Convenience. Dislike -- Absence on a shelf.
Audiobook: Like -- Convenience; when the author is the narrator. Dislike -- Absence on a shelf and when the narrator's voice does not seem to mesh with what I expect to hear.
2021: I actually have no general preference. Although when traveling, I prefer ebook or audio.
The last book I read:
2026: Night, by Elie Wiesel. Extraordinary first-person account of someone who lived through the Holocaust. I was especially drawn to the preface to his new edition, in which he indicates that he has retranslated the book and infused it with pathos.
2021: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
Author Interview - David Hirshberg
Pen & paper or computer:
2026: I use the computer, exclusively. I find the sophistication of software that allows for revisions and the comparison of drafts to be extraordinarily useful -- compelling actually. I do not have a specific time to write. I do so when the mood hits me, whatever the time of day. And I can go days without writing anything, just as I can go days rewriting a paragraph repeatedly until it feels "right."
2021: Computer
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
2026: As a child, the fictional Philip Roth in his novel The Plot Against America. As I thought about my childhood in the early 1950s, I saw the world with similar eyes as Philip did.
2021: Lev Beniov, from City of Thieves by David Benioff.
Author Interview - David Hirshberg
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
2026: I have a full-time job today as CEO of a biotech drug development company. I've spent my whole career in this industry, and have a deep affection for the complicated process of developing drugs for life-saving conditions.
2021: Developer of drugs for rare diseases (because that's what I did -- and loved -- before I began to write).
Favorite decade in fashion history:
2026: The 1920s.
2021: 1940s
Place I’d most like to travel:
2026: California. I lived north of San Francisco for a while and one of my three sons lives in the Easy Bay. There is so much to do within a 2-3 hour ride from metro San Francisco, including north to the Napa Valley, the Sonoma/Mendocino coast, and south to the Monterey area.
2021: Israel. I've been there 56 times.
My signature drink:
2026: Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand.
2021: Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc
Favorite artist:
2026: Gordon Huether, sculptor.
2021: Pablo Picasso
Number one on my bucket list:
2026: A family vacation with all of my children and grandchildren at a place where all could take advantage of a variety of activities.
2021: Attending the inauguration of the first woman to be president of the U.S.
Find more from the author:
https://www.facebook.com/david.hirshberg.754;
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17325071.David_Hirshberg
https://x.com/david_hirshberg
About David Hirshberg:
David Hirshberg is the author of the multiple-award winning novels My Mother’s Son, published in 2018 and Jacobo’s Rainbow, published in 2021, as well as the upcoming novel Crossing the Bronx (June 2026). He has also written four short stories, one of which has won a Hackney Award. All of his writing can be described as historical literary works of fiction. There isn’t one character or scene that has anything to do with him, members of his family or any acquaintances—everything springs from his imagination. Hirshberg holds an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
