Description
ISBN: 0789201291
Title: Small Worlds
Author: Hoffman, Allen
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Abbeville Press, New York
Publication Date: 1998
Edition: First Edition
Book Condition: F
D-j Condition: VG
Comments: Tight copy. D-j has minor shelf wear.
Synopsis: Small Worlds, the first volume in Allen Hoffman’s critically acclaimed series Small Worlds, takes place in 1903 and introduces the wondrous rebbe of Krimsk—a small Hasidic settlement in Eastern Europe. Secluded in his study for the past five years, the beloved rebbe suddenly emerges on the eve of Tisha B’Av, the holiday for commemorating the destruction of the holy temple in Jerusalem. His congregants are overjoyed to see him, but their joy is to be short-lived, for this holiday at the dawn of the twentieth century will be marked by strange and momentous events that will change their lives forever.
Small Worlds is the first in a series of novels concerning the people of Krimsk and their descendants in America, Poland, Russia, and Israel. In each volume Allen Hoffman draws on his deep knowledge of Jewish religion and history to evoke the “small worlds” his characters inhabit.
Echoes of Jewish literary tradition can be heard in Small Worlds, especially the mystical realism of Isaac Bashevis Singer and the poignant humor of Sholom Aleichem, on whose tales Fiddler on the Roof is based.
