Sara Gothelf Bloom was raised in Brooklyn, and spent much of her adult life in Germany, working at the Heidelberg Opera and as a freelance concert singer. For more than twenty years, she toured the country as a soloist with a small ensemble doing concerts of Yiddish songs for German audiences. Just Enough to Start Over is her first novel.

“A strong debut that weaves time, place, and history gracefully.” -- Library Journal

"This wise and nuanced tale of family, love, vocation, and brutality is, even with dark turns, keenly pleasurable, shaped by an abiding appreciation for 'the incomparable solace of ordinary life.'" – Booklist

“This beautiful and deeply moving novel by Sara Gothelf Bloom takes us through a very hard time in history, but there is so much soul on display that one can only rejoice. Hanna is among the vivid characters in contemporary fiction, and she—with the Dubrovsky sisters from the earlier generation of this marvellous family—will stay in my mind. Just Enough to Start Over is an impressive achievement, one that reminded me at various times of I.B. Singer. A vivid chronicle, told with poetic specificity and hard-won elegance.” -- Jay Parini, author of The Last Station and Borges and Me