Call me shallow, but I do find it very satisfying when a great book has a great cover:



Naomi Alderman's Disobedience is a moving insight into the Orthodox Jewish community of Hendon, North London. But it's also apt and funny on what it's like to be a Brit living in New York.

Each chapter starts with a reading and explanation of some part of the Torah. And the rest of the chapter illuminates that reading with a further bit of story. A simple device, but very stylishly done. Again, a bit like the cover, the curlicued design of which represents the carving on the candlesticks that hold the Sabbath candles of her childhood.

Alderman sounds like a pretty savvy character too, if this Guardian article is anything to go by. She has high expectations from literature. She says "maybe I expect too much social campaigning from literature" but, by her actions, she is also clear that exposing a community's prejudices in literature is, in part, her objective. In fact, the fact that this exposure may have positive benefits for the community itself "quite delights" her. Good for her.