"Secondhand Jew: A Memoir," from Fulton Books, Offers Raw, Unvarnished Look at a Life Shaped by Movement, Difference, and Resilience
Harper’s Ferry, WV, April 03, 2026 --(PR.com)-- In his debut memoir "Secondhand Jew: A Memoir," author Ta’om Pearlman delivers a deeply honest account of a life lived in constant motion—geographic, emotional, and spiritual—while quietly navigating undiagnosed autism.
By age twelve, Pearlman had already called six U.S. states and West Germany home. His father deployed twice to Vietnam; divorce fractured the family. After high school he enlisted in the Navy, crossing the Pacific and Indian Oceans and confronting antisemitism amid rich cultural encounters. The G.I. Bill later funded a wandering education across three states and five schools, leading to a career as a graphic artist in Washington, DC.
As a fourth-generation American Jew, Pearlman wrestled with heritage and belonging while experiencing the joys and heartbreaks of love, marriage, and fatherhood. When his wife’s mental illness and alcoholism deepened, he stepped fully into single parenthood. Later came retirement, a fierce battle with multiple myeloma—including chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant—and the lingering recognition as an Atomic Veteran exposed to plutonium during cleanup operations at Enewetak Atoll. Throughout it all, Pearlman searched for meaning, eventually rediscovering his past, his faith, and comfort in G-d.
“What makes it linger is not just the scope of Ta’om Pearlman’s life, but the way he tells it,” notes one early reader from the publishing industry. “There is no polish for the sake of appearance… The result is a narrative that feels both deeply personal and widely recognizable. It speaks to anyone who has ever felt out of place.”
Secondhand Jew is the kind of memoir that earns its place on the shelf through hard-earned honesty rather than flash. It explores universal themes—identity, belonging, survival, and the search for home—through strikingly specific experiences: military transience, late-diagnosed autism, antisemitism, cancer survivorship, and the long shadow of nuclear cleanup duty.
Available now in paperback in bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.
Please direct all media inquiries to Author Support via email at support@fultonbooks.com or via telephone at 877-210-0816.
About Fulton Books:
Fulton Books is a full-service book publishing company that offers a variety of services to authors of all genres. For more information, visit www.fultonbooks.com.
By age twelve, Pearlman had already called six U.S. states and West Germany home. His father deployed twice to Vietnam; divorce fractured the family. After high school he enlisted in the Navy, crossing the Pacific and Indian Oceans and confronting antisemitism amid rich cultural encounters. The G.I. Bill later funded a wandering education across three states and five schools, leading to a career as a graphic artist in Washington, DC.
As a fourth-generation American Jew, Pearlman wrestled with heritage and belonging while experiencing the joys and heartbreaks of love, marriage, and fatherhood. When his wife’s mental illness and alcoholism deepened, he stepped fully into single parenthood. Later came retirement, a fierce battle with multiple myeloma—including chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant—and the lingering recognition as an Atomic Veteran exposed to plutonium during cleanup operations at Enewetak Atoll. Throughout it all, Pearlman searched for meaning, eventually rediscovering his past, his faith, and comfort in G-d.
“What makes it linger is not just the scope of Ta’om Pearlman’s life, but the way he tells it,” notes one early reader from the publishing industry. “There is no polish for the sake of appearance… The result is a narrative that feels both deeply personal and widely recognizable. It speaks to anyone who has ever felt out of place.”
Secondhand Jew is the kind of memoir that earns its place on the shelf through hard-earned honesty rather than flash. It explores universal themes—identity, belonging, survival, and the search for home—through strikingly specific experiences: military transience, late-diagnosed autism, antisemitism, cancer survivorship, and the long shadow of nuclear cleanup duty.
Available now in paperback in bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.
Please direct all media inquiries to Author Support via email at support@fultonbooks.com or via telephone at 877-210-0816.
About Fulton Books:
Fulton Books is a full-service book publishing company that offers a variety of services to authors of all genres. For more information, visit www.fultonbooks.com.
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