Synopsis
Jews being Jewish: that’s the subject of Jennifer Anne Moses’s new collection of short stories. Whether in Tel Aviv, suburban New Jersey, or the Deep South, the characters who populate the pages of The Man Who Loved His Wife grapple with God, their loved ones, fate, death, hope, Hitler, transcendence, and the 4000 year old history of Judaism. With a Yiddish sensibility born of passion, an eye for detail, and a deadpan sense of humor reminiscent of Singer, Salinger, and Tillie Olsen, Moses captures singularly Jewish and wholly human characters as they live and breathe through their stories. A secular Israeli loses his son twice, first to ultra-Orthodoxy and then to war. An elderly survivor of Nazism living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, believes his dog to be the reincarnation of his long-dead sister. Meanwhile, in Queens, an adolescent boy mistakes love for magic and brings his family to the brink of catastrophe. Lovely, tender, and hard to put down, these are short stories that leave you yearning for more.
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Praise
Few others writing today explore as profoundly the stress of childhood, adolescence, and parenthood on the second and third generations of East European immigrants—the Jewish family in its American incarnation—as Jennifer Anne Moses. — Sol Gittelman, author of From Shtetl to Suburbia: The family in Jewish literary imagination.
At their finest the stories in Jennifer Anne Moses’s The Man Who Loved His Wife have the wit, whimsy, and surreal wonder of Chagall paintings—but a dark, depraved Chagall whose angels are as deeply flawed as they are grittily earthbound. — Peter Selgin, author of Drowning Lessons and The Inventors.
The wonderful stories in Jennifer Anne Moses’s The Man Who Loved His Wife play the heartstrings like a harp, striking deep chords of pathos and passion to wild chords of hilarity. Seldom does such essential wisdom come in such an entertaining package. — Steve Stern, author of The Frozen Rabbi.
Jennifer Anne Moses is our century’s Bernard Malumud or Saul Bellow. With warmth, tenderness, and wit, she captures the essence of the modern Jewish experience in the family, the workplace, and the bedroom. It leaves you hungry for more. — Gabrielle Glaser, author of American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption
Review
I always enjoy reading a book about a culture that I know little about. This book shares insight into the Jewish community, their history, and their way of life. But these are also stories of what everyday people experience and you might find yourself in the same situation or know someone that had these experiences. These stories are real life and I think that anyone would be able to relate or even identify with the various characters and their situations.
These stories also bring out a range of emotions for the reader. I felt joy, sadness, sorrow, and even a little anger. This is the mark of a good book in my mind when it touches many of the emotions and drags the reader into the story and the well-being of the characters.
We give the book 5 paws up.
About the Author
Jennifer Anne Moses is a multi-genre author whose books include Food and Whine, The Book of Joshua, Bagels and Grits, Visiting Hours, Tales from My Closet, and The Art of Dumpster Diving. The Man Who Loved His Wife is her first collection of short stories. Her essays and short stories have been widely published and anthologized. She’s also a painter. She is the mother of three grown children, and lives in Montclair, NJ, with her husband of more than three decades and their two bad dogs.
About the Author
About the Author
Josalyn McAllister is a cozy fiction author whose most recent works include Love Over Easy and Guilt is Midnight Blue. Josalyn started writing character descriptions at the tender age of seven, inspired by the works of LM Montgomery. In her teenage years, she moved on to Newsies fan fiction. Inspired by National Novel Writing Month, she wrote her first novel about a child she mentored in college. She has never stopped writing. Josalyn taught middle school history before deciding she would rather spend time with her own children than other peoples. A restless soul, she has moved all over the country and collected an eclectic array of hobbies. Her writing has a relatable quality that will charm and entertain you.
New England’s Storyteller Steven Manchester is the author of the soul-awakening novel, The Menu, as well as the 80s nostalgia-fest, Bread Bags & Bullies. His other works include #1 bestsellers Twelve Months, The Rockin’ Chair, Pressed Pennies, and Gooseberry Island; the national bestsellers, Ashes, The Changing Season and Three Shoeboxes; the multi-award winning novel, Goodnight Brian; and the beloved holiday podcast drama, The Thursday Night Club. His work has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, CBS’s The Early Show, and BET’s Nightly News. Three of Steven’s short stories were selected “101 Best” for Chicken Soup for the Soul series. He is a multi-produced playwright, as well as the winner of the 2017 Los Angeles Book Festival, 2018 New York Book Festival, and 2020 New England Book Festival. When not spending time with his beautiful wife, Paula, or their children, this Massachusetts author is promoting his works or writing.
Hollywood actress Ginger Lynn Harding is broke, unemployed, and stuck in the glaring spotlight of a sex-tape scandal thanks to her lousy ex-boyfriend. Changing her coveted ginger-colored hair to brown, Ginger heads to small-town Magnolia, Texas, where she plans to hide out and wait tables at the Cupcake Diner and Dive.
Minette Lauren is an award-winning author who loves animals and writes humorous romance in a small Texas town.
