From Publishers Weekly
Nayman's debut collection sees the children of Holocaust victims and participants coming to terms with family secrets. In "The House on Kronenstrasse," a middle-aged New Yorker is drawn to her childhood home in Heidelberg, where she discovers a devastating secret about who she is. In "The Porcelain Monkey," a young woman's discovery of a dreidel in a keepsake box prompts her father, who was a German soldier during WWII, to tell her about its origin; the truth inspires her to become an Orthodox Jew. In "The Lamp," a daughter who has never learned that she is the product of a Nazi rape makes peace with the fact that she will never know her mother's past: "Perhaps," she muses, "there are graves that must be dug if the living are to go on living." And in the novella "Dark Urgings of the Blood," a psychiatrist is haunted by a patient whose history eerily parallels her own. Nayman, a clinical psychologist, writes in a didactic tone that makes these stories read like earnest moral essays on already heavily covered themes. Still, her edifying lessons will appeal to readers looking for insight on the tortured choices imposed by Nazism.
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Review
"I'm shaken by Shira Nayman's brilliant and mystical stories. She writes with wisdom and courage about the devastating heritage that separates and yet links the descendants of Holocaust victims and perpetrators." -- Ursula Hegi, author of
Sacred Time and
Stones From the River"Imagine a collaboration between O. Henry and Cynthia Ozick. If you can't, then do read the wonderful stories in Shira Nayman's collection
Awake in the Dark." -- Susan Isaacs, author of
Any Place I Hang My Hat"Shira Nayman's stories risk strong emotion and always clear the sentimental. Her sentences have heft and spine and grace, and her vision is clear and generous." -- Mary Gordon, author of
Pearl and
Spending"How can you know who you are when deception and secrets are your birthright? With compelling prose and satisfying twists, Shira Nayman reveals the awful burdens carried by people born into dark times, and how those burdens are inherited by their own uncomprehending children. This book will resonate with anyone who has buried a parent without ever knowing who that person was, but it will be especially important to the Holocaust's grandchildren." -- Mary Doria Russell, author of
The Thread of Grace and
The Sparrow
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
