The Bronsons were the first Jews ever to live in the small town of Concordia, Tennessee -- a town consisting of one main street, one bank, one drugstore, one picture show, one feed and seed, one hardware store, one beauty parlor, one barber shop, one blacksmith, and many Christian churches. That didn't stop Aaron Bronson, a Russian immigrant, from moving his family out of New York by horse and wagon in 1920 and journeying to this remote corner of the South to open a small dry goods store.

Never mind that he was greeted with "Danged if I ever heard tell of a Jew storekeeper afore." Never mind that all the townspeople were suspicious of any strangers. Never mind that the Klan actively discouraged the presence of outsiders. Aaron Bronson bravely established a business, and proved in the process that his family could make a home, and a life, anywhere.

With a fine dry wit, Suberman tells the story of her family that the Intermountain Jewish News described as "Moving, funny, scary, and intelligent." The Jew Store is that rare thing -- an intimate family story that sheds light on a piece of history and speaks to the immigrant experience of millions of Americans.