“A touch­ing illus­tra­tion of a six­ty-year rela­tion­ship between a girl and boy from ear­ly child­hood to old age. Over time there is a pow­er shift from one to anoth­er as their lives inter­sect. From first love to last love, Love Is a Rebel­lious Bird by Elayne Klas­son explores the man­ner in which some­one spe­cial always holds a place in our heart. This book illus­trates that our con­nec­tions help us deal with the obsta­cles we all encounter. Along the way the main char­ac­ters, Judith and Eliot, engage in mak­ing us ques­tion the lengths one might go to retain that bond. This work was cho­sen as its mes­sage will res­onate with read­ers who may be fac­ing chal­leng­ing life deci­sions now; real­iz­ing we will all expe­ri­ence the vicis­si­tudes of life soon­er or lat­er. This poignant nov­el address­es the nature of love and com­mit­ment (through a Jew­ish lens) and is a remark­able depic­tion of such.”

— Judges’ Remarks, Jewish Book Council

“Klasson fills every scene she can with thought-provoking reflections on the nature of love, family, and romance. A surprisingly complex and realistic love story delicately narrated by an endearing protagonist.”

— Kirkus Reviews

“Elayne Klasson’s artistic and compassionate novel Love is a Rebellious Bird focuses on a lifelong love affair . . . an operatic, enduring, and subtle romance.”

— Foreword Reviews
Clarion Rating: 5 out of 5

“Love is a Rebellious Bird vividly evokes the worlds of Judith Sherman and Elliott Pine: 1950s Chicago in the Jewish neighborhood of West Rogers Park, the subsequent whiplash of the liberated 60s, marriages that fail and marriages that thrive, losses from illness and ambitions denied. Klasson shows us the seismic repercussions of a love, more unequal than unrequited, that vibrate over a lifetime. While Elliott may never fully love Judith the way she deserves, the reader certainly will.”

— Stacey Swann, author of Olympus, TX (forthcoming from Doubleday in 2021) and Contributing Editor at American Short Fiction

“In her testimony to the strength of enduring love, Elayne Klasson captures an abiding affection that transcends time and place, that is never maudlin, but looks at what was gained and sometimes lost in a friendship that is full of the best of human nature.”

— Mashey Bernstein, Ph.D, Professor of Writing, University of California Santa Barbara

“A deeply touching story that moves deftly through the decades to a sweet and graceful finale.”

— Carl Alasko, Ph.D., author of Beyond Blame and Emotional Bullshit (Tarcher/Penguin)

“Elayne Klasson has written a novel that is both very real and very brave … I was captured.”

— Gerald DiPego, Novelist: Keeper of the City, Screenwriter: Phenomenon and Message in a Bottle

"It is hard to believe that Love is a Rebellious Bird is Elayne Klasson’s first novel. I hope for a second, a third, and more."

— Ruth Latta, Compulsive Reader