Malkeh and Her Children

by Marjorie Edelson

Book Overview

Richly plotted, animated by beautifully realized characters, and steeped in magnificent old-world detail, Malkeh and Her Children is the captivating epic of the remarkable Mandelkern family as they weather the storm of the Russian Revolution. At the family's center stands the indomitable Malkeh, an intelligent and beautiful woman, who marries Yoysef, an itinerant tailor. Together, the young couple embrace the simple joys and traditions of Jewish life in a tightly knit Russian city. But soon their safe world is shattered with the dawn of the tsar's reign of terror. As famines and cholera epidemics sweep the nation, the Jews swiftly become scapegoats, with the Russian peasants taking their revenge in violent pogroms. Against this land torn by revolution and bloodshed, Malkeh and Yoysef's children must grow up and pursue their own destinies. In a novel that sweeps from provincial life in a Jewish ghetto, to the streets of Lenin's St. Petersburg, rife with revolt, to Moscow in the chaos after the civil war, author Marjorie Edelson has woven a timeless tapestry of the old country with both its torments and its joys. Malkeh and Her Children is a loving evocation of powerful family values and traditions -- an imaginative work of love and hope that transports us into the life of a proud woman, whose courage and love will leave no one unmoved.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345379713
• ISBN13: 9780345379719
• Release Date: September 1992
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 704 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

It was a great book.

A heartfelt, poignant, tale of woe and joy. Read it today.

You will be sorry when this book ends!

An engrossing tale. Although quite long, the pages fly. A great way to learn about the years leading up to the Russian Revolution . One gains great insights into the hardships endured in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Eastern Europe and Russia. I would strongly recommend it.

A beautiful but heartwrenching story

Malkeh and Her Children is one of my favorite books - it really gave me insight into the Jewish faith and a start to understanding the tragedy the Jews have endured. I highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in history, religion and families - it's amazing the different twists and turns you'll go through on your journey through this book. A truly beautiful but heartwrenching story.