‘Read this book . . . what a gift of lyric language and style, of emotion purified by pain this is’ Los Angeles Times

Fleeing an abusive home, Katerina, a teenager in 1880s Ukraine, is taken in by a Jewish family, finding safety in their warmth and rituals. When a pogrom is wrought upon the family, she is alone again. Decades later, having suffered and retaliated for that suffering, an elderly Katerina is released from prison at the end of World War Two, and is devastated to find a world emptied of its Jews. Ever the outsider, she realizes that she has survived only to bear witness to the fact they ever existed at all. Described by Aharon Appelfeld as being ‘about what is inseparable from me’, this extraordinary novel tells, with moving simplicity, the story of a people; of life’s horror and beauty.

‘Appelfeld reimagines the place of his own origins through a perspective that in its generosity of feeling recalls Tolstoy and Chekhov’ The New York Times Book Review

Translated by Jeffrey M. Green

"Full of beauty and pain… a chilling allegory that attains a satisfying force" - Observer

"Read this book . . . Think what a gift of lyric language and style, of emotion purified by pain this is" - Los Angeles Times

"Appelfeld reimagines the place of his own origins through a perspective that in its generosity of feeling recalls Tolstoy and Chekhov" - The New York Times Book Review

"With piercing clarity, Israeli novelist Appelfeld tells the profoundly moving story of Katerina, a Polish housekeeper who works for a succession of Jewish families in the years before WWII... A theme that might be didactic in the hands of a lesser novelist is here conveyed with moving, unpreachy simplicity. This masterful novel is a powerful study of the poison of prejudice, a poignant meditation on life's horrors, beauty and God's inscrutable ways. Appelfeld imbues every scene with deep humanity in a riveting tale of universal appeal." - Publisher's Weekly

"An astounding achievement, among the best pages Appelfeld has ever written.. intense, disturbing." - Kirkus Reviews