Echoes of Jerry is the story of two outsiders in a family, one a deaf man, the other a shy gay boy, and the silent bond between them. The memoir describes a journey that winds through the Deaf and gay communities and ultimately leads to the discovery of the author's own voice as a writer and storyteller, one that his uncle would never hear
 
 

Review Quotes:
A tender, intimate, revealing memoir that will strike a chord with anyone who has ever felt different, or struggled to understand just how they fit into the world. Judah Leblang paints a vivid picture of growing up feeling isolated in Cleveland of the 1970s. He finds illuminating parallels with his Uncle Jerry's experiences growing up profoundly deaf in the 1950s. Not a word is wasted as he deftly weaves together the two stories in a fast-moving narrative. Echoes with Jerry explores the search for belonging at the heart of the human condition.
-Rick Beyer, author of the New York Times bestseller The Ghost Army.
 
"A moving, thoughtful, gorgeously evocative story of one man's coming to terms with his sexuality, his relationship to deaf culture, and family ties stronger than death itself."
- Erica Ferencik, author of The River at Night and Into the Jungle
 
In Echoes of Jerry, Judah Leblang skillfully interweaves poignant stories of what it was like to be deaf or gay in twentieth century America. Leblang's nimble prose allows readers to experience key scenes from his family's life, whose details are then translated into universal questions of how one reconciles individual striving with the desire to belong to a community. A touching, intimate, ultimately inspirational read!
Deirdre Leigh Barrett, author of The Committee of Sleep, faculty Harvard Medical School
 


Publisher Marketing:
Growing up in suburban Cleveland, Judah Leblang felt a deep connection with his Uncle Jerry, an orally-educated deaf man who lived an isolated life between the deaf and hearing worlds. Like Jerry, Leblang felt different too, struggling with his sexuality and trying to find his place in society, finally coming out in the mid-1980s. Many years later, after working in the Deaf Community and later, losing much of his own hearing, the author goes on a quest to understand his late uncle and to give him a voice--this man who died of a heart attack at 44, and who remained a mystery to those around him, encased in his silent world.