The stories in this book are about women: passionate, intelligent, eccentric women, all of whom in their own way are struggling to find meaning, overcome grief, and become, somehow, more fully alive – whether intellectually, emotionally, or sexually. One of them is obsessed with irrigating a desert, another with a baby she has lost, a third seeks redemption and love through dangerous sex. One woman hasn't left her house in twenty years, another falls in love with her rabbi, while yet another, after a year of mourning, begins returning to the world through singing aloud a prayer. These women are memorable for their individuality, their vividness, and their emotional and psychological depth – as are these stories, all of them beautifully written, poetic, and powerful.
"In this powerful debut collection, Nora Gold grapples with the themes which most compel us all: loss, loneliness, betrayal, fear, and faith. With unflinching honesty and thought-provoking insight, she leads us repeatedly to the pivotal point where all seems lost and then digs deeper to discover what remains."
Diane Schoemperlen, Winner of the Governor-General's Award for Fiction
"These are extraordinarily powerful stories that take us where no Jewish women's fiction has gone before… The reader can't pull away…We're touched to the bone… This is terrific fiction."
Susan Weidman Schneider, Lilith Magazine
"Nora Gold is as heartwarming and delightful a writer as Ann Tyler or Anita Brookner."
