About this ebook
“Candid, cunning, brave, and wickedly funny,” these stories “will make you remember the first time you read Philip Roth” (Salvatore Scibona).
Set it the Jewish communities of Georgia—from the 1920s to the present day—this Mary McCarthy Prize-winning collection investigates the crossroads of desire and religion in seven “funny, fearless outsiders’ tales . . . of sexual coming-of-age and temptation” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
A gay man attends his high school reunion in Savannah, where he’s pursued by the now-married golden-boy football star from his youth. An awkward teenager grapples with notions of God, superstition, and girls at his bar mitzvah. A curator’s assistant unearths the groundbreaking mystery of a Renaissance painter, and an even more surprising one in his personal life. A charitable cantor’s hopes for a budding romance are matched only by his remorse after acting on impulse. An aging widow, devoted to ancestral Jewish tradition, takes an unexpected stand against her modern-thinking grandson.
In this illuminating collective of friends, family, and lovers dealing with shifting social norms in the South, “Friedman explores the balance between religious morality and personal desires in a style similar to Isaac Bashevis Singer and contemplates memory and loss as masterfully as Nathan Englander” (Southern Humanities Review). Though “Friedman works in that same O’Connor-Welty tradition . . . these stories shouldn’t be pigeonholed by regionalism or sexuality. In Friedman’s well made, rich, and finely paced stories, characters struggle to wed their desires to their community’s expectations and traditions—traits that resonate regardless of creed, address, race, or sexuality” (Los Angeles Review of Books).
Set it the Jewish communities of Georgia—from the 1920s to the present day—this Mary McCarthy Prize-winning collection investigates the crossroads of desire and religion in seven “funny, fearless outsiders’ tales . . . of sexual coming-of-age and temptation” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
A gay man attends his high school reunion in Savannah, where he’s pursued by the now-married golden-boy football star from his youth. An awkward teenager grapples with notions of God, superstition, and girls at his bar mitzvah. A curator’s assistant unearths the groundbreaking mystery of a Renaissance painter, and an even more surprising one in his personal life. A charitable cantor’s hopes for a budding romance are matched only by his remorse after acting on impulse. An aging widow, devoted to ancestral Jewish tradition, takes an unexpected stand against her modern-thinking grandson.
In this illuminating collective of friends, family, and lovers dealing with shifting social norms in the South, “Friedman explores the balance between religious morality and personal desires in a style similar to Isaac Bashevis Singer and contemplates memory and loss as masterfully as Nathan Englander” (Southern Humanities Review). Though “Friedman works in that same O’Connor-Welty tradition . . . these stories shouldn’t be pigeonholed by regionalism or sexuality. In Friedman’s well made, rich, and finely paced stories, characters struggle to wed their desires to their community’s expectations and traditions—traits that resonate regardless of creed, address, race, or sexuality” (Los Angeles Review of Books).
“Candid, cunning, brave, and wickedly funny,” these stories “will make you remember the first time you read Philip Roth” (Salvatore Scibona).
Set it the Jewish communities of Georgia—from the 1920s to the present day—this Mary McCarthy Prize-winning collection investigates the crossroads of des...
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About the author
Jason K. Friedman was born in Savannah, GA, earned a BA from Yale, and an MA from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars. His work has appeared in literary journals and anthologies including Best American Gay Fiction and the cultural-studies reader Goth: Undead Subculture. He has published two children's books, including the thriller Phantom Trucker. He was runner-up in the Associated Writing Programs Award Series in the Novel, and he won the Karma Foundation-Moment Magazine Short Fiction Prize for "Blue" the first story in Fire Year. Jason works as a technical writer in San Francisco, where he lives with his husband, filmmaker Jeffrey Friedman, and their dog, Lefty.
Jason K. Friedman was born in Savannah, GA, earned a BA from Yale, and an MA from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars. His work has appeared in literary journals and anthologies including Best American Gay Fiction and the cultural-studies reader Goth: Undead Subculture. He has published two childr...
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