Synopses & Reviews
In turn of the century Eastern Europe, a brother and sister have been chosen to guard an ancient cemetery of Jewish martyrs situated on an isolated mountain. The endless snows protect them from the pogroms and plagues that rage in the world below, but that same protective blanket cuts them off from their people and tradition. Escape--from loneliness, from wavering piety, and from the burgeoning desire they feel for one another--becomes impossible.
A parable for our times, by the writer whom Irving Howe called "one of the best novelists alive," Unto the Soul lays bare the deepest stirrings of religious feeling and despair within the human soul.
About the Author
Aharon Appelfeld is the author of eleven internationally acclaimed novels, including The Iron Tracks, Badenheim 1939, The Age of Wonders, and The Retreat. He lives in Jerusalem, Israel.