Read an excerpt
See also www.sidura.com
72,000 words hardcover
Finished books available
US: Shaye Areheart, Aug 2008
Canada: Key Porter, Mar 2007
UK: Tindal Street Press, Feb 2008
German-language: Droemer Verlag, May 2010
(Photo: David A. Brown)
Sidura Ludwig was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and lived in Birmingham, UK, from 2001 to 2004. Her short fiction has appeared in several magazines and anthologies in Canada and the UK, and she is the recipient of the Canadian Author and Bookman First Prize for Most Promising New Writer. Sidura lives in Toronto, Ontario, with her husband and two children. Holding My Breath is her first novel.
Forthcoming from Sidura Ludwig – Lily's Megillah: A Novel (in progress)
a novel by Sidura Ludwig
A BOLD AND TENDER DEBUT NOVEL FROM A FRESH AND EXCITING NEW VOICE
The year is 1947.The world has survived the Second Great War, and in the north end of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Saul and Goldie Levy are married. Goldie's parents and her two sisters, Carrie and Sarah, are in attendance. Noticeably absent is her brother, Phil, who died during the war in a plane that crashed somewhere in North Africa. Five years later, they will have a child, a daughter they will name Beth. This is her story.
Holding My Breath is a poignant coming-of-age tale told from the point of view of Beth Levy, the youngest in a household of two generations of strong Jewish women. There's her mother, Goldie, who upholds middle-class 
values and traditions at home and in the community; her aunt Carrie, who never married and carries a secret,tragic past; and her youngest aunt, Sarah, the most beautiful, wild, and rebellious of the three sisters. As Beth grows up, she finds herself navigating between the old world and the new, and the mounting pressure to conform only feeds her longing to escape.
PRAISE FOR HOLDING MY BREATH
“Holding My Breath is a from-the-heart, 'this is real life' first novel, the kind you remember long after you finish reading. Let's hope Ludwig becomes a name to remember, too.” — OMAHA WORLD-HERALD
“[A] lovely coming-of-age story told in a voice that is tender, sad, and funny. In understated prose, Ludwig convincingly portrays a time and a place. …The deceptive simplicity of Ludwig's style illuminates her novel's emotional depth.” — BOSTON.COM
“Ludwig tells an absorbing story, and we look forward to hearing more from this young writer.” — THE CHICAGO JEWISH STAR
“Ludwig slowly reveals the flaws of each character while resisting the temptation to absolve their sins at the end. … [H]er ability to convey the obligation of family is mature, especially as it relates to betrayal and the seeming impossibility of forgiveness.” — BOOKLIST
“A loving yet unsentimental look at Jewish assimilation in Canada. Ludwig deftly describes the push-pull that burdens the children of immigrant parents, a dance between tradition and progress.” — KIRKUS REVIEWS
“[A] nicely observed debut.. The drama is understated throughout.” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“Sidura Ludwig's restrained style matches the scale of her debut novel… Holding My Breath is calm and absorbing, its themes handled with delicacy. The writing is precise and each lyrical moment is earned.” — THE TELEGRAPH, UK
“Ludwig's first novel is a warm, deftly rendered Jewish family saga set in 1950s and 60s
Canada. Beth Levy, an only child, lives with her parents above their pharmacy in Winnipeg. Maternal grandmother Baba and aunts Carrie and Sarah share a house nearby. Unmarried seamstress Carrie is Beth's protector - thin, tense, disappointed; younger Sarah is rebellious and deceptively carefree. Beth worships them equally, and is curious about their dead brother Phil, a second-world-war hero. Submerged in his old diaries, she is inspired by his interest in space exploration and daydreams about being an astronomer; but dominating mother Goldie has other plans, which also do not include Beth's friendship with local boy Tim. Conflict and fiercely protected secrets and myths are the main themes here. Nothing startling, but the characters are distinctive and Ludwig has a talent for storytelling.” — THE GUARDIAN, UK
“Beth, our delightful narrator, stakes her own claim early on and the reader is instantly smitten. Holding My Breath is a sweet, sad and compulsively readable tale that manages, along with its lovely, unbreakable characters, to soar.” — JENNIFER GILMORE, author of Golden Country
“There is much to admire in Sidura Ludwig's debut novel, Holding My Breath, a coming-of-age story set in the mid-20th century: its powerful evocation of setting, compelling cast of complex female characters and affirming celebration of Jewish family life.” — NATIONAL POST
“Holding My Breath … is a polished work from a new voice in Canadian literature. It is evident why Ludwig was a recipient of the Canadian Author and Bookman Prize for most promising writer.” — THE CHRONICLE HERALD
“…these sharply delineated women never simplify into types . Ludwig has the gifts to launch beyond the predictable.” — THE GLOBE AND MAIL
“A powerful exploration of the conflict between individual needs and family ties, independence and responsibility, growing up and growing old.” — THE BOOKSELLER
“Ludwig creates . a group of characters who are complex, strong and distinct. . [She] evokes a profound sense of time and place . Her sensitive and detailed exploration of character, combined with her skill at evoking the specificities of time and place, create something to which which everyone can relate.” — WHAT'S ON WINNIPEG.COM
“A perceptive and satisfying story. Holding My Breath is quietly compelling, told in clear, uncluttered prose, offering insight into a Jewish Canadian family which can never entirely escape its own history. Sidura Ludwig explores the universal conflict between individual needs and family ties with sympathy and compassion.” — CLARE MORRALL, author of Astonishing Splashes of Colour and Natural Flights of the Human Mind
“This is a portrait of an era, a city, a family; a story lovingly told by a girl born into Winnipeg's post-War Jewish community. Sidura Ludwig writes from a deeply felt knowledge of this time and place, all the more remarkable because she's too young to know it all first hand. Here are three sisters, three distinct responses to the persuasions of family, seen through the eyes of a daughter torn between familial devotion and restless, brilliant ambition. This novel depicts the tremendous capacity for love and the sometimes tragic tendency to hold our loved ones too tight.” — MARGARET SWEATMAN, author of When Alice Lay Down With Peter
“In Holding My Breath, Ludwig captures the complexities of love, as it relates to personal happiness but also responsibility to family, friends and community.” — THE JEWISH INDEPENDENT