| Vendor | |
|---|---|
|
Liepman Literary Agency
Marc Koralnik |
| Original language | |
| English | |
| Weblink | |
| http://helenmarylesshankman.com/ | |
THEY WERE LIKE FAMILY TO ME
A radiant debut collection of linked stories from a two-time Pushcart Prize
nominee, set in a German-occupied town in Poland, where mythic tales of
Jewish folklore meet the real-life monsters of the Nazi invasion.
nominee, set in a German-occupied town in Poland, where mythic tales of
Jewish folklore meet the real-life monsters of the Nazi invasion.
In the Land of Armadillos is a thrilling triumvirate of sharp, beautiful prose, imaginative storytelling and powerful emotion. This beautiful collection of linked short stories marries the Holocaust, social commentary and magical realism. Reminiscent of Sholem Aleichem, Jonathan Safran Foer, and Karen Russell, Shankman shows us the basic human motivations that drive both the monsters and the angels of that time.
1942 was the year when the Nazis got serious about the Final Solution, the year that Auschwitz was fired up and the year that the Jews disappeared from hundreds of towns all over Poland. In the Land of Armadillos takes place in and around Wlodawa, a town of 10,000 that sits on the Bug River, which was the border between German-occupied Poland and the Soviet Union. Today, Wlodawa is best known for its location, six kilometers away from the gas chambers at Sobibor. In Shankman's stories, a cold-blooded SS officer dedicates himself to rescuing the creator of his son's favorite picture book; the Messiah appears in a little boy's bedroom to report that he is quitting; a young man shows up at a Jewish-owned mill in the middle of the night, claiming to be the Golem; a little Jewish girl is hidden with the biggest anti-Semite in the district and his talking dog. Weaving in and out of these tales are the enigmatic and silver-tongued Willy Reinhart, Commandant of the forced labor camp at Adampol Palace who has grand schemes to protect "his" Jews, and Soroka the saddlemaker and his family who struggle to survive. With a subtle hand, Shankman provides us with magical triumphs in a place of devastating tragedy. HELEN MARYLES SHANKMAN's stories have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Gargoyle, Cream City Review, 2 Bridges Review, Grift, Jewishfiction.net, and other publications. Her story, They Were Like Family to Me, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She was a finalist in Narrative Magazine's Story Contest, and earned an Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train's Short Story Award for New Writers competition. She is the author of the acclaimed 2013 novel The Color of Light, an Amazon bestseller, which was #1 in Jewish Literature and Fiction for many weeks, as well as reaching the #3 spots in both Horror and Paranormal Romance. Her parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts are Holocaust survivors. Many of the events in her fiction are based on personal family stories of Holocaust loss, heroism, and survival. Currently, she lives in New Jersey, with her husband and four children.
1942 was the year when the Nazis got serious about the Final Solution, the year that Auschwitz was fired up and the year that the Jews disappeared from hundreds of towns all over Poland. In the Land of Armadillos takes place in and around Wlodawa, a town of 10,000 that sits on the Bug River, which was the border between German-occupied Poland and the Soviet Union. Today, Wlodawa is best known for its location, six kilometers away from the gas chambers at Sobibor. In Shankman's stories, a cold-blooded SS officer dedicates himself to rescuing the creator of his son's favorite picture book; the Messiah appears in a little boy's bedroom to report that he is quitting; a young man shows up at a Jewish-owned mill in the middle of the night, claiming to be the Golem; a little Jewish girl is hidden with the biggest anti-Semite in the district and his talking dog. Weaving in and out of these tales are the enigmatic and silver-tongued Willy Reinhart, Commandant of the forced labor camp at Adampol Palace who has grand schemes to protect "his" Jews, and Soroka the saddlemaker and his family who struggle to survive. With a subtle hand, Shankman provides us with magical triumphs in a place of devastating tragedy. HELEN MARYLES SHANKMAN's stories have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Gargoyle, Cream City Review, 2 Bridges Review, Grift, Jewishfiction.net, and other publications. Her story, They Were Like Family to Me, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She was a finalist in Narrative Magazine's Story Contest, and earned an Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train's Short Story Award for New Writers competition. She is the author of the acclaimed 2013 novel The Color of Light, an Amazon bestseller, which was #1 in Jewish Literature and Fiction for many weeks, as well as reaching the #3 spots in both Horror and Paranormal Romance. Her parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts are Holocaust survivors. Many of the events in her fiction are based on personal family stories of Holocaust loss, heroism, and survival. Currently, she lives in New Jersey, with her husband and four children.
| Available products |
|---|
|
Book
Published 2016-02-01 by Scribner |