Set in the early 1940s and 50s, SAVING MYSELF: A LOS ANGELES CHILDHOOD evokes the wonder and terror of the Simonoffs, the only Jewish family in a small section of Los Angeles. it is told from the viewpoint of a young girl trying to understand the early loss of her mother as well as abandonment by her friends because she is Jewish. The memoir comes full circle in a journey toward spiritual wholeness, expressing the universal wish for a sense of belonging.