Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home

Review
“Fascinating and insightful . . .”

—Booklist, Starred Review


“Something new is afoot in Uncovered. Lax tells a story that resists codified narratives and breaks through to a new way of understanding the world.”

—Lambda Literary


“A truly mesmerizing memoir.”

—Redbook


“This is a remarkable book.”

—OutSmart Magazine


“In Uncovered, Leah Lax tells a personal story that millions of women can recognize. All over the world are women whose bodies are covered, not by their own decision, but by one of the many patriarchal religions that by definition rule their wombs. Leah Lax lived that life, yet has the spirit, courage and honesty to tell her story. It\'s been said that, if one woman told the truth, the world would split open. If others follow her, it just might.”

—Gloria Steinem


“Aching, absorbingly told, and with genuine tenderness toward the damaged, struggling, and sometimes helpful souls who populate a life, Uncovered is a marvelous memoir, one in which any reader will find echoes of our own quests for an authentic life.”

—Mark Doty, National Book Award author of Fire to Fire, Firebird, and Deep Lane


“Absolutely stunning! With memorable, passionate detail, Leah Lax recounts a unique search for wholeness and healing that paradoxically plunged her into the quicksand of shame. Written in poetic prose whose color and savor will linger long after you finish the book, this memoir makes the flickering appeal of a life of inflexible rules as seductively clear as it is claustrophobic―a remarkable achievement. Dramatic, revelatory, deeply moving, and ultimately inspiring, this is a truly one-of-a kind memoir about the universal longing to discover, nurture, and celebrate one’s authentic self.”

—Lev Raphael, author of My Germany: A Jewish Author Returns to the World His Parents Escaped


“In this courageous, important book, Leah Lax reveals a voice once doubly silenced by orthodox religion―as a woman and a lesbian―on a deeply moving journey to selfhood. Should be required reading!”

—Sandi DuBowski, Director, Trembling Before G-d


“In Uncovered, Leah Lax remembers in rich detail how she moved from loneliness through what promised to be a new family and a new community, into a pure appreciation of the world―and how, instead, it suppressed her deepest needs. Her book is a profound and poignant story of innocence and experience, those ancient universals, and transforming joy at the end.”

—Rosellen Brown, author of the New York Times bestseller Before and After


“Uncovered is masterful―searingly honest and lyrically rendered.”

—American Library Association, GLBT Reviews


“Dealing with abortion, LGBT identity, and Hasidic life, this story is too complex to fit neatly into the ‘ex-Hasidic memoir craze’—but that makes it all the richer.”

—Flavorwire


“The defining magic of this memoir is in every immediate detail . . . I found Uncovered to be uplifting in its honesty.”

—Portland Book Review


“Several memoirs detailing desperate escapes from Hasidic life have been published in the last year . . . But Leah Lax’s memoir has managed to stand out from the crowd with some major differences.”

—Jewish Book Council


“Lax’s gifts―uncommon intelligence, a poetic sensibility, an eye skilled at discerning the telling detail―make her story lyrical, ruminative, and profound; she is able to impart the events of her life with a spiritual glow that shimmers long after the last page has been turned.”

—Lilith magazine


“Lax is a gifted writer and her prose is captivating . . . Uncovered is a worthwhile read.”

—The Jerusalem Post