Ellie Gold is an orthodox Jewish teenager living in Toronto in the late eighties. Ellie has no doubts about her strict religious upbringing until she falls in love with another girl at her grandmother's cottage. Aware that homosexuality clashes with Jewish observance, Ellie feels forced to either alter her sexuality or leave her community. Meanwhile, Ellie's mother, Chana, becomes convinced she has a messianic role to play, and her sister, Neshama, chafes against the restrictions of her faith. Ellie is afraid there is no way to be both gay and Jewish, but her mother and sister offer alternative concepts of God that help Ellie find a place for herself as a queer Jew.

From Booklist

Fifteen-year-old Ellie comes from an Orthodox Jewish family that is straining at the edges. Her older sister is planning her escape; her mother’s commitment is frayed by her need for self-expression. Ellie herself discovers a different world when she spends the summer with her liberal Bubbe learning to swim and developing a crush on a neighbor, Lindsay. When Ellie returns to Toronto, she tries to contact Lindsay, who ignores her at first, but soon their afternoons together turn sexual. Lieberman’s involving story would have plenty of plot even without the lesbian angle (the sexuality is more than suggestive, though hardly graphic). The individual characters are so interesting that more about each would be welcome. But Ellie’s strong first-person narration, authentic in its wondering, carries the day as she struggles to fit this new piece of herself into a religion that doesn’t accept who she is at her core. One caveat: the girl on the cover in the sexy school uniform is apparently Lindsay, but those not reading closely will assume it’s what Orthodox students wear. Hardly. Grades 10-12. --Ilene Cooper

Review

"In Gravity we ascend dizzying orgasmic heights and descend to the depths of adolescent agony. It is a novel one can only hope will find its synchronistic way into the hands of the many young people, especially gays and lesbians, who struggle in silence to reconcile their spiritual faith with their hearts' desire." (The Rover 20090401)
"A complex and sensitive read for mature teens." (The StarPhoenix 20081028)
"How [Ellie] copes with the internal conflicts is beautifully and compellingly written by first time novelist Leanne Lieberman. Ellie's character is well rounded and refreshingly different from many female teen protagonists...As a Canadian novel focusing on coming out as a lesbian, this book should be included in a high school library collection." (The Bookmark (BCTLA) 20100601)
"Lieberman is a unique author who ably accomplished writing about a topic that isn't easy to discuss...The book was very appealing and I found it hard to put down." (What If? Magazine 20090201)
"Gravity is so spot-on in plot, character and motivation that it could be both a novel and the screenplay it's very likely to become. This is a fascinating book - provocative, accessible and taking you where you probably haven't gone before." (CD Syndicated 20080901)
"A page-turner in which vivid description furthers the development of character and plot In advocating for a heightened ecological emphasis in Judaism, Ellie displays genuine caring and shows that conscious, rather than automatic, responses are what keep any practice alive." (Canadian Literature 20080901)
"Lieberman successfully develops her characters, and does not shy away from the lust commonly experienced by teenagers...An excellent work." (TeensReadToo.com 20080901)
No details (Booklist 20080926)
"Heartfelt - a must for Jewish and GLBT collections." (Kirkus 20081001)
"Ellie is a memorable protagonist...any teenager, particularly girls whose family life centres on religion of any sort will connect with Ellie's story." (CM Magazine 20081122)
"Gravity is a compelling, well-written story that... leaves readers wanting more - and, rightly so, leaves them to draw their own conclusions about whether orthodoxy and homosexuality can coexist." (Cynthia Ramsay The Jewish Independant 20081201)
"This novel explores the world of Orthodox Judaism...[a] powerful book." (Resource Links 20081101)
"Lieberman's confidence is impressive. She is in complete command of her material. Her work is like origami, in which meanings gently unfold. She treats Ellie's emerging eroticism with taste and delicacy." (Globe and Mail 20081230)
"There are few books that deal this frankly with the inner conflict of a religious teen trying to come to terms with her or his sexuality." (VOYA 20090101)
no details (KLIATT 20090101)
"Lieberman writes her protagonist seamlessly, in a first-person voice that is so raw and awkward and confessional that it's hard to imagine it isn't a memoir, let alone fiction." (Forward 20090101)
"A remarkably sensitive and credible portrait of a girl whose faith collides with her sexuality, and who refuses to compromise either." (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 20090401)
no details (Tucson Unified School District )
"Presents us with several questions that we all have about growing up, and so, we make connections even if we are not Jewish...One searches for books like these in which one turns each page to find answers to age-old questions." (Tri State Young Adult Book Review Committee )
no details (School Library Journal )