Holocaust novel Delicate finds its American audience after years of rejections from publishers

Ron Segal's Holocaust novel, Delicate, originally published in Hebrew in 2010 and translated into German, faced years of rejection from American publishers despite its success in Israel and Germany. The novel, inspired by Holocaust testimonies, explores the emotional truth of the Holocaust through the eyes of a survivor whose memories are tangled. Segal stated, "[Emotional truth] is another layer of remembrance, an attempt to capture what a historical experience felt like when facts alone cannot convey its emotional reality." The Jewish Book Council (JBC) facilitated its English translation by Philip Simpson and introduction to American readers through their Nu Reads book club on September 22, with a wider release planned for 2027. JBC CEO Naomi Firestone-Teeter noted that Delicate "pushes us to think differently about memory, storytelling, and Holocaust remembrance." Segal believes the book's timing is significant, arriving as antisemitism surges in the United States.