SIMA'S UNDERGARMENTS FOR WOMEN Reviewed in The National Post

Ilana Stanger-Ross's debut novel Sima's Undergarments for Women is featured in Canada's National Post: "Stanger-Ross’s great talent, at least on this occasion, lies in her understanding of the shadings of female friendship. She never pretends that all of it is benign. There are moments of revenge, of schadenfreude, of jealousy, but she wraps all of it within a richly authentic-sounding language and compassionate grace." Meet the witty and wonderful Ilana Stanger-Ross on Thursday, April 23, at R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut.

On the Road with Ilana Stanger-Ross, author of SIMA'S UNDERGARMENTS FOR WOMEN

Ilana Stanger-Ross, author of the already beloved Sima's Undergarments for Women, has just completed a whirlwind tour of book promotion - from the great north of British Columbia to Toronto, and on to the great American cities of New York, Philadelphia and Washington. For a witty and entertaining look at her adventures on the road, check out her fabulous blog.

SIMA'S UNDERGARMENTS FOR WOMEN Launch in NYC

Overlook publisher Peter Mayer hosted a reception for author Ilana Stanger-Ross on Monday in honor of the publication of Sima's Undergarments for Women. Ilana and Peter are pictured here with editor Juliet Grames.

Ilana Stanger-Ross will read and discuss her new novel at McNally-Jackson in NYC on February 28 and Freebird Books in Brooklyn on February 29.

More Praise for SIMA'S UNDERGARMENTS FOR WOMEN

Ilana Stanger-Ross's Sima's Undergarments for Women is reviewed in Author magazine: "There are apparently numerous hidden stores strewn throughout New York’s boroughs. Deep in the basements of homes, men and women sell shoes, suits, and, as in the case of this book, bras and lingerie. This store, run for decades by Sima Goldner, sits in the middle of a thriving Jewish community. (With the action taking place almost exclusively in Sima’s shop and her apartment upstairs, the author generates an almost hot-house atmosphere. Every woman dreams of a finding a store with bras that really fit her, and when Sima interacts with her customers and displays her knack for helping them, the novel fulfills the promise of its title. Sima takes on a young seamstress, an Israeli girl fresh from her compulsory military service (another unexplored avenue), who’s in New York waiting for her boyfriend to finish his so that they can go traveling. As the novel progresses, Sima takes the girl on as the daughter she never had, and flashbacks slowly reveal the cause. Those looking for pathos and a well-drawn character study will be satisfied.”

Meet the author at these upcoming events:

NEW YORK: February 24th, Cocktails & Book signing, Bra Smyth, 2177 Broadway (at 77th), 7pm
PHILADELPHIA: February 25th, signing & reading & corset party, Delicious Boutique & Corseterie, 1040 N. American St. #901, 7:30pm, RSVP
WASHINGTON D.C.: February 26th, Book signing, Jaryam Boutique, 1631 Wisconsin NW Ave Georgetown, 7-8pm
NEW YORK: February 28th, Reading, McNally Jackson Bookstore, 52 Prince Street, 4 pm
BROOKLYN: March 1st, Reading, Freebird Books, 123 Columbia St, Brooklyn, 7-8pm

Top Grade for SIMA'S UNDERGARMENTS FOR WOMEN in Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly's Kate Ward gives an "A" grade to Sima's Undergarments for Women, by Ilana Stanger Ross: "Despite the excitement of owning her own lingerie business, Sima's childless life seems an empty shell -- until an Israeli woman named Timna walks into her Brooklyn shop and becomes the daughter (and seamstress) she never had. Timna soon becomes an object of obsession for Sima, who tries to control the love life of her new employee as she reflects on her own. Sima's Undergarments for Women 's conclusion is frustrating -- you'll wait for a juicy revelation about Timna that never arrives -- but no matter. In Sima, Ilana Stanger-Ross has created one of the most painfully realistic characters in recent memory, making Women more delicate and refined than the silkiest of nighties. A- "

Author of SIMA'S UNDERGARMENTS FOR WOMEN featured in Shelf Awareness

As the excitement mounts over next month's publication of Sima's Undergarments for Women , Shelf Awareness featured a Q&A with the author, Ilana Stanger-Ross, in today's Book Brahmin piece:

Ilana Stanger-Ross grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y. She holds an undergraduate degree from Barnard College and an M.F.A. from Temple University and is currently a student midwife at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine. She has received several prizes for her fiction, including a Timothy Findley Fellowship, and her work has been published in Bellevue Literary Review, Lilith magazine, the Globe and Mail and the Walrus magazine, among others. Her new novel, Sima's Undergarments for Women, is a February Overlook Press publication.

On your nightstand now:
I covet a nightstand. But on the floor between my bed and my bedroom door is a more or less upright stack of books, including John Updike's Pigeon Feathers, Tony Horowitz's A Voyage Long and Strange, Wayne Johnston's The Colony of Unrequited Dreams and Maureen Freeley's Enlightenment. I read a few of the Updike stories while watching my daughters in the bath the other night, and they're incredibly rich and almost unbearably sad. The others are all still in the good-intention stage.

Favorite book when you were a child:

If I'm Lost, How Come I Found You? by Walter Olesky. It's hard to pick one favorite, but that was the first chapter book I read on my own. It was a Christmas gift from my second grade teacher--we all were given one book to read over the holidays, and I chose that one out of the grab-bag. I loved it. I no longer remember the plot other than it involved a lost child and some heartwarming adventures, but I do remember the enormous sense of pride in reading a chapter book entirely on my own.

Book you've faked reading:

Oh, I don't fake. But I have perhaps let on that I liked certain experimental books more than I did. Barthes comes to mind. Also Moby Dick--I skipped the whaling detail parts.

Book you're an evangelist for:

Tell Me a Riddle by Tillie Olsen. If you haven't read it--go read it right now. Now. It's a slim novella--you can be through it in an hour, easy, though you'll want to sit and savor it if you can. There's an Alice Walker blurb on my paperback edition. She writes, "Every time I read Tell Me a Riddle it breaks my heart." I can't say it better.

Book you've bought for the cover:

Vox by Nicholas Baker. I was in seventh grade and found myself drawn to the hot-pink cover. Or maybe that's just the excuse I gave myself after devouring the first few pages in the chain bookstore near my junior high. Pretty shocking material for a seventh grader--the hot pink meant something on that one.

Book that changed your life:

Our Bodies, Our Selves by the Boston Women's Health Collective. As a 13-year-old at summer camp, I pored over it along with all the other pre-teen campers. It was my first introduction to women-centered care, healthy sexuality, queer-positive thinking, etc. I'm currently studying to be a midwife, and I can trace my interest in women's health at least in part back to those bunk bed study sessions.

Favorite line from a book:

In To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Ramsay is trying to remember a poem. And the line she remembers, which apparently comes from a poem written by a not particularly well-regarded poet Woolf knew, is "And all the lives we ever lived, and all the lives to be, are full of trees and changing leaves." Isn't that lovely and true? I first read To The Lighthouse in high school, and that little rhyme has stayed with me. (Though, like Mrs. Ramsay herself, I am forever doomed to not remember the rest of the poem.)

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. I read it over a few days while sitting in a rocking chair in our Toronto apartment, my then-infant daughter Eva asleep across my lap. I loved the novel and couldn't put it down, but more than just the wonder of that story I want to revisit the moments during which I read it: winter outside, warm inside, my first baby (now four) asleep against me, and nothing to do but rock and read the most wonderful adventure.

Ilana Stanger-Ross's SIMA'S UNDERGARMENTS FOR WOMEN in The New York Post

Sima's Undergarments for Women, by Ilana Stanger-Ross, is reviewed by Sarah Weinman in The New York Post: "Hidden beneath the red and orange brick two−story homes of Boro Park, Brooklyn, is Sima Goldner's basement lingerie shop, where for 35 years she has practiced the mystic art of finding and fitting just the right brassiere for all types of women. In a glance she could see their size, the back and the cup combined. 36−D, she'd say. In vain the women protested, 'but I'm a 34. I've always been.' (But) when on her advice they slipped back on their shirts to evaluate the shape a new bra gave, they inevitably agreed." So, too, will readers slip into Brooklyn native Ilana Stanger−Ross's debut novel, finding something both comforting and uplifting. Sima's life looks enviably stable, with her successful business, her tight−knit Orthodox community and her decades−long marriage to Lev. But Sima herself is very much an outsider: "no one gathered at her table for Shabbat dinner, no one caught her up on the gossip outside synagogue on Saturday." And her marriage has lasted years, but it comes with a sense of emptiness and crippling distance as Lev repeatedly chimes, "I didn't notice you were gone." Then a young, vivacious Israeli named Timna blows into her shop, sticks around as a salesgirl and proves to be the catalyst that will reveal the gaping wounds bubbling underneath Sima's placid exterior."

SIMA'S UNDERGARMENTS FOR WOMEN Featured in Lilith Magazine

Get a sneak preview of Ilana Stanger-Ross's brilliant first novel, Sima's Undergarments for Women, in the current issue of Lilith Magazine (Winter 2009). Already drawing widespread praise, Sima's Undergarments for Women is a unique and meaningful reading experience. Set in a Brooklyn basement bra shop, this debut novel explores a secret New York sisterhood where women of every shape and creed can come to share their milestones, laughter, loves, and losses. On sale February 5!

SIMA'S UNDERGARMENTS FOR WOMEN in Library Journal

The forthcoming novel from Ilana Stanger-Ross, Sima's Undergarments for Women, is reviewed in the current issue of Library Journal: "Sima Goldberg, owner of a bra shop in Brooklyn, NY, is the kind of woman whom other women trust. Sima is privy to the thoughts and desires of her clientele as she custom-fits each one with undergarments that lift, correct, and enhance their female figures…all at discount prices, of course. But while her patrons bare their souls to Sima, she manages to keep the biggest secret to herself, one that has been a burden for over 46 years. It is only when Sima hires Timna, a young Israeli girl, to be her assistant that her secret is exposed. Timna is a free spirit who moves through Sima's life offering her the allure of love and adventure, yet when Timna flees, she leaves behind a wake of destruction. Debut novelist Stanger-Ross writes about the intimacy among women whose lives are defined by their Orthodox Jewish community. She deftly reveals just enough information about her characters to excite the reader's curiosity without making the story line predictable. In the end, this is a tale about appreciating one's life, and isn't that what life is about?"

SIMA'S UNDERGARMENTS FOR WOMEN in Publishers Weekly

Sima's Undergarments for Women, a new novel by Ilana Stanger-Ross, has received a glowing review in Publishers Weekly: "In Brooklyn’s Borough Park, Sima Goldner runs a bra shop from her basement while tolerating her oafish husband, Lev, who lords over the upstairs. But when young and beautiful Israeli expatriate Timna takes the gig as the shop’s seamstress, Sima confronts some long-hidden feelings, fears and impulses, and her formerly small life opens up. From the very first page, this is an assured narrative with an even surer voice; readers will know that they are in the hands of a real storyteller as Sima and Timna forge a partnership. Neighborhood subplots bubble along nicely as Stanger-Ross charts Sima’s awakening and shows how Timna’s arrival and continued presence affect Sima. The bra shop works wonderfully as a stage and forum for the many ladies who tromp through it. This ends up being much more than a novel of female bonding—it’s a subtly powerful treatise on friendship, trust and love, written with plenty of verve."