This book  is a moving, fascinating  memoir written by Stephen J. Dubner, a former writer and editor at The New York Times Magazine. 

Dubner grew up in a Catholic family, the youngest of  8 children, of parents totally devoted to their Catholic faith.  In his early 20's the author begins a journey of discovery: first of his parents origins - both of them born Jewish and each separately having left their faith and their birth family ties to totally embrace Catholicism, and secondly, his discovery of his own faith.

His story is an adventure story of uncovering his parents' past, their family dynamics,and asking why his parents so completely forgot their Jewish origins.  The adventure continues as the author finds himself being given "footholds" into discovering where his heart truly is regarding his identity, his faith, his relationship to God and to his family.  He discovers relatives he never knew who give more insight into his family's past.  He learns among other things that his mother is a cousin to Ethel Rosenberg.  He travels to his grandparents' shtetl in Poland and also wrestles with the implications of the Holocaust.

His story is a love story also; his family relationships, friends, and love interests, guide his search and discovery of a new "way".  A quote from a new Jewish friend and mentor , puts the challenge before him into these words: 

"So you're not really Jewish and you're not really being a Christian....I don't think it's such a brilliant idea to live with nothing, you understand? You like the world the way it is now?  You like all this crime, you like this utter disregard for ethical behavior?  What you're looking at, darling, is called the breakdown of Judeo-Christian society.... You think your parents did what they did so you'd just walk away from it?....I'm just saying, What are you?".....And if you're going to get married and have children, you better figure it out."

Dubner's relationship with his mother becomes strained and another new friend, Archbishop of New York, John Cardinal O'Conner, helps him mend that relationship.

Finally, we see the author's "turbulent soul" come to a peace about the "way" he should follow.  Throughout this book he raises many questions about the nature of truth, God, (can we really know anything about Him?), and among other questions, what draws a person to a particular religion, or away from it?  This book,  Turbulent Souls , is well worth reading and is very thought provoking.

Marie Singer