Lynne Sharon Schwartz

With a reader's perspective and a master writer's skill, critically acclaimed novelist Lynne Sharon Schwartz takes on the world at large
Communication, while essential, is almost impossible to maintain perfectly—a truism Lynne Sharon Schwartz demonstrates in this stunning essay collection. In one section, she discovers that one typo could completely derail a project while translating an Italian account of the Holocaust. In another...

A dynamic collection of stories that portrays different generations and explores various genres with compassion and dry wit
In The Melting Pot, nothing is ever what it seems. In these short stories from critically acclaimed author Lynne Sharon Schwartz, characters grapple with the desires and needs of daily life, no matter how absurd or mundane. In the title story, a woman finally reveals her tangled family history to her widowed...

Why is this night different from all other nights? Every year when families gather for the Passover holiday, the youngest child poses that question as part of the poetic Four Questions near the start of the Seder. The answers are no less than the story of people bound in slavery, their suffering in a foreign land, and their ultimate liberation - the story of Passover. Here the Four Questions are presented in breathtaking luminous paintings by Ori...

An injury at birth left Audrey with a wandering eye. Though flawed, the bad eye functions well enough to permit her an idiosyncratic view of the world, one she welcomes in the stifling postwar Brooklyn of the 1950s. During a journey to Manhattan to see a doctor about her sight, she begins to explore the sexual rites of adulthood. But can her romance last? In this beautifully observed novel, Lynne Sharon Schwartz raises themes of innocence and escape...

The arithmetic of marriage is never easy to understandas time passes, the variables constantly change Caroline is set adrift in 1950s Rome when she meets Ivan. Though things start slowly, Ivan wins her over after a strong pursuit, and the two marry, agreeing never to inflict any irreparable wounds." But though Ivan proves to be a fine father, he is a distant husband, and Caroline finds herself daydreaming of other men. So as the years pass, the couple...

A man generously lends his car to his ex-wife, and is bewildered when she not only neglects to return it but makes increasingly implausible excuses for her actions. A neat and orderly clothing store owner is taken in and manipulated by an ailing elderly neighbor. A wife left by her husband for a younger woman is forced to visit the couple in order to see her children-and makes a startling realization about her former spouse. In these stories and...

Lynne Sharon Schwartz's critically beloved novel about family, tragedy, and philosophy The field is all around us. It's our needs and our wants. This is what George tells Lydia. A disturbance, however, is something that keeps us from grasping and attaining the things we need. Usually, we can adapt to these disturbances and move forward. But, what happens if a disturbance becomes too great to move past? In this entrancing tale of loss and understanding,...

Every year when families gather for the Passover holiday, the youngest child poses that question as part of the poetic Four Questions near the start of the Seder. The answers are no less than the story of a people bound in slavery, their suffering in a foreign land, and their ultimate liberation-the story of Passover. Here the Four Questions are presented with refreshing clarity, providing insight into the symbols and rituals of the holiday.