My Grandmother's Stories

This is a deeply enjoyable collection in the tradition of Jewish storytelling, in which sensually detailed memories of childhood are used to evoke the folk figures of a whole community history. Grandmother's house is a treasury of niches and relics, each of which generates stories and stories within stories. We visit the wise fools of Chelm, meet venerable sages and troublesome neighbours and see intractable domestic struggles ingeniously resolved. There's a wealth of humour and tenderness here, culminating in one of the most moving ghost stories I've ever read. An invaluable book for everybody who loves to share good stories.