Rabbi Shai Cherry, Ph.D.

"​​Balgley’s Letters to My Father is probing and panoramic. Her hunt for identity takes the latest descendant of a brilliant Jewish family back to the old country. Balgley’s genius is literary, and her evocative poetic prose transports the reader back to the old country with her. The hospitality, the Soviet-era bureaucracy, and the blinkered national narratives among both Poles and Jews form the canvas on which Balgley wrestles across decades and continents. Her inner eye for detail and deft use of plush language invite you to read aloud as she conjures worlds and refines relationships from the rich ore of heritage."