Take Cover Books will be hosting Aviva Rubin for the launch of her debut novel WHITE (re:books) on the evening of January 23, 2025!

About the Book:

Sarah Cartell grew up in the 1980’s and 90’s in a White supremacist family, controlled by her grandfather whose beliefs and violence mark them all. When an unexpected friendship with a Black boy, and the Jewish town librarian, open her mind and expose those beliefs as vile lies, Sarah begins digging up everything she can about the haters her family celebrates . . . and her grandmother and aunt who fled long ago.

Determined to dismantle the White supremacist network in Canada, Sarah infiltrates a Neo-Nazi gang. As she races to stop the tide of hate crimes, new friends are put in danger and a horrifying family secret begins to emerge. This unravelling lands her in a psychiatric ward, where her therapist forces the resistant Sarah to dig into pain she has ignored, and acknowledge being trapped in the belief that she is unworthy of the world she is fighting for. Can she ever escape the bonds of a hateful family?

Why WHITE is relevant today:

The book peels back the layers of hate and exposes the intimate and complex destruction it unleashes on believers, as much as those who are targeted. Any direction Sarah Cartell turns, something is lost. To choose empathy is to forfeit family and a sense of belonging. Merging two genres – domestic and political fiction – WHITE explores anti-Semitism, racism and the trauma of growing up with hate. What has changed dramatically since the 80’s and 90’s is the legitimacy of white nationalist beliefs and permission to wave that flag. What has not changed is clinging almost desperately to intolerance out of a misguided notion that it guarantees safety for those who fear losing their supposed birthright. In an increasingly polarized world, understanding hate and the divisions it perpetuates as not simply evil, is key to choosing trust over building walls. For Sarah, strong convictions battle her reticence to trust either others or herself. In times that drive us protectively inward, reaching across difference still remains the best way forward. But how do we do that when we feel under threat?

Praise for WHITE

KIRKUS Review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/aviva-rubin/white-5/

“Brave, moving, and fierce, WHITE shows us the deep rot of a family’s white supremacist beliefs and a fearless daughter’s plan to infiltrate the racist groups she wants to bring down. Taut and compulsively readable, Aviva Rubin’s debut novel is as much a sharp psychological portrait of generational racism as it is an unflinching look at the realities and limitations of hope and change.” —Laura Zigman, bestselling author of Separation Anxiety and Small World

"Every action humans take plants a seed. WHITE brilliantly explores the yield of such seeds—good, bad, and ugly. While hate can be cultivated and passed from generation to generation, it can also be dispelled when the right people come into our lives at the right times.” —Arno Michaelis, author of My Life After Hate

“A mesmerizing tale of a small-town young woman’s valiant, misguided scheme to combat white supremacist violence. In Rubin's gripping account, anti-Black racism, antisemitism, and xenophobia are terrifyingly present, not only out in the world, but within homes and families. Set in Canada in the 1990s, this surprising yet familiar story echoes back to the 1930s and 40s and ahead to our own troubled times.” —Doris L. Bergen, author of War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust

“In this bold debut, Rubin delivers readers to the fringes of society where we find an unflinching story of the things we learn, the things we unlearn—and ultimately, the power of love, family and redemption.” —Karen Green, author of Yellow Birds

“A bold and brave novel about the dangers of both loyalty and betrayal when the family and community we love are bonded by negative values that hurt other people and the world. Using the frame of Canadian white supremacy, Aviva Rubin brings us inside the conflicted heart and mind of one young woman who finally makes the break and decides, at great personal cost, to say No.” —Sarah Schulman, Author

“Aviva Rubin eloquently captures a young woman’s struggle with the intergenerational trauma of hate. While Sarah Cartell fights for a different world from the one she was raised to believe in, she feels unworthy of it. With humour and compassion, WHITE shines a light on the complex and transformative powers of family, friendship, speaking one’s truth.” —Paula Klein, Psychotherapist

7PM // 59 Hunter Street // Free Admission (RSVP Below)

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Peterborough, ON
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