This recommendation comes from Geoff. Lamb. You can follow him on twitter @Onceatenor.
The Marrying of Chani Kaufman (2013) by Eve Harris
"London, 2008. Chani Kaufman is a nineteen-year-old woman, betrothed to
Baruch Levy, a young man whom she has seen only four times before their
wedding day. The novel begins with Chani standing “like a pillar of
salt,” wearing a wedding dress that has been passed between members of
her family and has the yellowed underarms and rows of alteration
stitches to prove it. All of the cups of cold coffee and small talk with
men referred to Chani’s parents have led up to this moment. But the
happiness Chani and Baruch feel is more than counterbalanced by their
anxiety: about the realities of married life; about whether they will be
able to have fewer children than Chani’s mother, who has eight
daughters; and, most frighteningly, about the unknown, unspeakable
secrets of the wedding night. As the book moves back to tell the story
of Chani and Baruch’s unusual courtship, it throws into focus a very
different couple: Rabbi Chaim Zilberman and his wife, Rebbetzin Rivka
Zilberman. As Chani and Baruch prepare for a shared lifetime, Chaim and
Rivka struggle to keep their marriage alive—and all four, together with
the rest of the community, face difficult decisions about the place of
faith and family life in the contemporary world."
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