First published 1999
Pinchas Pelovits sits in a Soviet prison cell, mistakenly arrested alongside twenty-six condemned writers. He has never published a word, yet faces execution with Stalin's literary victims. As torture breaks his body, Pinchas creates his first and final story, reciting it moments before death claims them all. Across nine tales, Englander moves between worlds where religious law meets human need. A Hasidic husband seeks his rabbi's permission to visit a prostitute when his wife's extended menstrual cycle threatens their marriage. A Protestant man experiences sudden religious awakening in a New York taxi. Polish Jews transform into acrobats as they approach the trains to Auschwitz. An elderly wigmaker discovers unexpected beauty. Each story tests the boundaries between sacred duty and mortal desire, between community rules and individual survival. The characters navigate Orthodox traditions while confronting modern complexities, finding that doubt and faith often occupy the same space.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: moral-dilemma, religious-conflict
Setting: Soviet Union, Auschwitz
Period: 20th Century
Paperback · Faber and Faber
Content warnings: death, torture