Dance of the Demons by Esther Kreitman

Esther Kreitman has, as Ilan Stavans points out in his excellent introduction to this book, received more attention recently than she received at the time she was writing. She is the older sister of two great Yiddish language writers, Israel Joshua Singer and Nobel - Prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer. She shares her brothers' remarkable story-telling gifts. One of the most interesting parts of this book is in fact in its beginning description of her family home, her book- loving , more realistic and practical mother and her dreamy, Hasidic , mystical father. She confirms the picture painted by her brothers in which as they said ' she should have been the man, and he should have been the woman'. Like her brothers Kreitman has a deep inside knowledge of Jewish religious life and its contradictions and difficulties. Again though what makes the book most valuable is her outstanding story- telling ability.

Paperback 2009