Sisters of Fortune

By Esther Chehebar
** Publication Date 22 July 2025 **
4 stars

I’m an only child, so having sisters always sounds both amazing and terrifying to me. As does being raised in a fairly strict religious community. 


Fortune Cohen is one of three girls in her family. At 21 she is considered the steady sister. Her older sister Nina, 26, is a walking time bomb, always arguing with everyone. The baby Lucy, 18 and still in high school, is the beautiful one. Fortune is the one who is dependable. The perfect middle child. 


The family lives in the Syrian neighborhood in Brooklyn. Specifically Syrian Jews. There is everything you could want in the neighborhood. Most girls are born and die in the same small section of the borough. There are those who fight the tradition, as in Nina, and those who embrace it, as in Fortune. Fortune’s wedding is coming up to her expected match, Saul. 


Only lately Fortune is questioning her choice to marry Saul. Lucy is sneaking around with a man 12 years her senior. Nina has taken a job at a record label defying the norm. The paths were planned for these three young women, but they are challenging the expectations of their strict community.


This was a great book written with so much insight into the lives of women in this religious community. The expectations and rules that everyone must follow as Sephardic Jews. It was so interesting to learn about this sector of society that flocks to specific neighborhoods in parts of the U.S. Most immigrated during the regime changes in Syria in the middle of the 20th century. Some well before that.


It’s interesting to read about a group of people who have in many ways not assimilated into US culture, but have been able to maintain their traditions in spite of living in the US. I did enjoy it. Fortune is such a ‘good girl’ that you almost want her to take a chance. Lucy is playing with fire with this much older man, but you want things to work out. And Nina, I think mostly I just wanted Nina to finally be happy.


I enjoyed this one. Kind of a slow read, and sometimes hard to grasp the language and customs, but overall it was good.