Available now:

The writing life. It’s what I wanted for years – and finally had the courage to embrace.

I’m an author of three published books, a verse novel and two historical novels. I’m a partner in The Writers Circle, which offers creative writing classes to children, teens & adults in five NJ locations, a freelance writer and editor for corporate and nonprofit clients and an editor of creative writing – as well as the supremely proud mother of two grown children.

Beyond the Ghetto Gates

Beyond the Ghetto Gates is a historical novel set during the turbulent days of Napoleon Bonaparte’s Italian campaign (1796-97). When French troops occupy the Italian port city of Ancona, freeing the city’s Jews from their repressive ghetto, two very different cultures collide.

“A gripping peek into a bygone Italy and an astute look at the era’s prejudice.” — Kirkus Review
“Beyond the Ghetto Gates is a timeless coming-of-age story.” — 4 star Foreword Clarion Review”
“Beyond the Ghetto Gates…is a beautiful and heartbreaking story of love and loss, freedom and pain.”
— 5 star review Readers’ Favorite.

Read more about the novel. | See Advance Praise for Beyond the Ghetto Gates. | See the Beyond the Ghetto Gates book tour.  | To book an Author Visit and for Press Inquiries, visit the Contact Page. | NEW! Between the Ghetto Gates Book Club Guide

News About Beyond the Ghetto Gates

Beyond the Ghetto Gates takes Silver in the Independent Publisher Book Awards‘ Historical Fiction Category!

Read What the Bloggers Say:

“Beyond the Ghetto Gates is a solidly told story combining intercultural conflict, religious violence, and a thread of unpredictable romance” – Sarah Johnson, Reading the Past. Read the full review here.
“This is historical fiction that is memorable and life-changing!” – Crystal Book Reviews. Read the full review here.
“Beyond the Ghetto Gates is an amazing story of courage, hope and doing what’s right. ” – . Read the full review here.
“This book was a goldmine of richness. ” – The Lit Bitch. Read the full review here.

Read (Hear, Watch) My Latest

Clea Simon’s “Five Questions with Michelle Cameron.” Read it here.
Moment Magazine‘s B’shert (Soulmate) column, talking about how my husband and I were “Bonded by the Bard.” Read it here.
Featured reader in Murphy Writing at Stockton University’s Virtual Reading on March 27 – Watch it here.
Reading from Kitty O’Meara’s poem, “And the People Stayed Home” with other authors who are publishing books during this difficult period. For The Jewish Journal. Watch it here.
“Why I Write,” part of Christi Craig’s Sunday Series. Read it here.
“Talking Location with author Michelle Cameron – ANCONA” in TripFiction. Read it here.
Podcast as part of The Book of Life’s Books in the Time of Coronavirus series. Listen to it here.
Interview on Lilith’s blog, “Beyond the Ghetto Gates: The Liberation of Jews in Italy.” Read it here.
The Chester Library hosted me in their Behind the Book Series via Zoom on April 28 at 2:30pm. See the recording of the visit on Youtube.
My article, “Beyond The Ghetto Gates” Includes #MeToo Themes” appeared in Girl Talk HQ. Read it here.
“Writing Women Back into Jewish History: Interview with Michelle Cameron by Mary Sharratt” in Feminism and Religion. Read it here.
Radio appearance on “Dropping In with Diane Dewey.” Listen to the podcast here.
My interview in the Chatham Courier appears, some four months post interview. A lot has happened in the interim! Read it here.
My interview with Loretta Goldberg, in anticipation of the June 30 Published Authors event at the NY Chapter of the Historical Novelists Society. Read it here.
An interview on Dead Darlings, which is holding a Virtual Book Tour for authors whose tours were cancelled due to the pandemic. Read it here.
An interview in Womanscape, which touches on my writing life as well as the themes of the the novel. Read it here.
An interview in fellow historical novelist Susanne Dunlap’s blog. Read it here.
Radio appearance on “Writers Voices.” Listen to the recording here.

A Few Kind Words About My Previous Books

The Fruit of Her Hands: The Story of Shira of Ashkenaz

A book as rich as the cover illustration, The Fruit of Her Hands is based on the life of Cameron’s 13th century ancestor, Meir Ben Baruch, a renowned Jewish scholar of medieval Europe. The Fruit of Her Hands is a dramatic fictional tale centered on the character of Meir Ben Baruch’s wife, Shira. The book paints a picture of the dawning of the renaissance; a society faced with prejudices and one woman’s fight for justice and equality. – Jewish Scene Magazine

The Fruit of Her Hands is equally rich as history and fiction.  Most readers probably know that anti-Semitism was prevalent in Medieval Europe, but in Cameron’s skilled hands, the reader experiences with pounding heart how horrifying, brutal, and pervasive it was. . . . a book so rich with wonderful characters, vivid settings, and an absolutely lush and wonderful depiction of the strengths of the medieval Jewish home and community. This is a first-rate choice for Jewish book clubs. – The San Diego Jewish World

 

In the Shadow of the Globe

In The Shadow of the Globe is an astonishing surprise. Michelle Cameron has conjured a world and spun a poetic tale that not only honors and exalts Shakespeare and his universe but brings it to vivid, visceral, and heartbreaking life. It is a unique and breathtaking work of art inspired by the man and the theatre that defined humanity in its totality. — Bonnie J. Monte, Artistic Director, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey

I love your epic poem. It’s fun, insightful, imaginative. One might nitpick your chronology, but who cares? I am half-way through it, enjoying it immensely, but my heart leaped at Cuthbert’s advice to Peter Street on how to build a playhouse. How right, how accurate: a machine in which to act, not a celebration of the art of scenic design, not built in accordance with the physics of the motion picture projector, no ceremonial hall for wine-and-cheese shmoozing, no architectural monument to someone’s wealth. A machine in which to act, where the alchemy of the Playwright’s words in the actors’ bodies can be realized by the sense of the audience to create the delicate magic of theatre. God bless you, dear lady, you and Cuthbert nailed it. – Paul Barry, Founder of the NJ Shakespeare Festival and director of all 38 of Shakespeare’s plays

 

 

 

Featured Category

Featured Category

Featured Category