«“Written in Yiddish, the stories explore a range of Jewish life in Eastern Europe. Some are light-fingered vignettes capturing a character’s mental state or the impressions of neighborhood happenings glimpsed through a window. Some recount pointed incidents from World War I … All in all, it’s a fascinating mixed bag … What is most noteworthy is that, with the exception of the affecting “Director Vulman,” Nazi barbarism is not explicitly addressed in these stories. The romances and conflicts are touching in their relative normalcy, their determined belief in progress and happy endings. As such, they offer invaluable portraits of a world and a people that were soon to be obscured by darkness.” – Wall Street Journal, August 2022»