Bertram Reiner, a charismatic and brilliant man diagnosed with a severe case of Battle Fatigue is treated by Dr. Harrison, the distinguished and steadfast head of the hospital, finds the most challenging patient of his career. Their sessions leave Dr. Harrison slipping into a frightening, but also strangely enlivening twilight existence that renders the boundaries between sanity and insanity disquietingly blurred. When Dr. Harrison discovers that Bertram is having an affair with Matilda, the head nurse, who he himself has feelings for, his own state of yearning rises and throws his sanity into the balance.
World War II haunts the lives and loves of three people, on three continents, in this novel by an author who “writes with wisdom and courage” (Ursula Hegi, author of Stones from the River). Oscar is a mysterious Englishman who presides over Ellis Park, a sprawling mansion on Long Island’s North Shore. It is 1951; as the jazz bands play and the ever-present houseguests waft into the ballroom, the war seems much further away than a mere six years. But Oscar is tormented by his own questionable wartime dealings—and embroiled in a drama involving late-night meetings with an official, with whom he speaks German. He is also haunted by memories of Christine, his great love, who sailed to Shanghai after the war. He has no idea of the murky moral depths into which she has fallen. Marilyn, meanwhile, has moved in to Ellis Park for the summer, and is working on a book of her wartime photography. She reminds Oscar of Christine—and he finds refuge late at night sitting beside her in the pristine photographic studio he built in a basement area, deep beneath the sumptuous, brightly lit rooms above. But he suspects that Marilyn has a secret, and this suspenseful literary page-turner unfolds through the point of view of all three characters, spanning three continents, telling a story of beliefs and self-deceptions, and the ways our lives are shaped by both history and art. “In the years following WWII, the horrors of that war reverberate in the lives of the intertwined characters in [this] story of guilt, mistaken identity, and love . . . Nayman’s saga delves deeply into how even those not directly affected are forever changed by war.” —Booklist “A marvelous book that sweeps across decades and around the world to reveal dark secrets locked tight within the human heart.” —Jed Horne, author of Breach of Faith
Bertram Reiner, a charismatic and brilliant man diagnosed with a severe case of Battle Fatigue is treated by Dr. Harrison, the distinguished and steadfast head of the hospital, finds the most challenging patient of his career. Their sessions leave Dr. Harrison slipping into a frightening, but also strangely enlivening twilight existence that renders the boundaries between sanity and insanity disquietingly blurred. When Dr. Harrison discovers that Bertram is having an affair with Matilda, the head nurse, who he himself has feelings for, his own state of yearning rises and throws his sanity into the balance.
The five compelling tales comprising Lolita at Leonard’s of Great Neck and Other Stories from the Before Times will take you on an immersive journey from 1974 to the 2000s. Eighteen-year-old Anna, a Jewish college student, meets a German businessman at a Greek diner on Queens Boulevard. Claire Seltzer of Great Neck has the honeymoon from hell in Paris. Rebecca, a spunky eighth grader, is in love with Mr. Miller, her math teacher. Sarah Reinhardt, the wife of a celebrity doctor living in Central Park West, finds herself in a complicated love triangle. Rachel Rosensweig awakens one morning to find that her husband of thirty years, a Columbia professor, has become a dangerous radical. The characters of this unforgettable collection inhabit the golden era of the postwar, pre-pandemic world. Age-old power struggles—between lovers, between friends, between parents and children—are illuminated and analyzed. Heartbreaking and sometimes hilarious, their stories disclose and document what it meant to be American, Jewish, and female. Rich with cultural touchstones and reference points, they are suffused with self-awareness, longing, and sensual awareness. Will Anna accept the invitation of the German businessman? Can Claire’s honeymoon be saved? Will Rebecca’s love for Mr. Miller remain secret? How will Sarah fix the mess she has made? And how will Rachel protect herself from the threat that has suddenly become very personal? You are invited to fall in love with these characters and their long-gone world.
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