Shayna by Miriam Ruth Black; Burnsville, Minnesota: Kirk House Publishers; ISBN 9781952-976315; 330 pages including Yiddish glossary; $18.95.
By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – This intense novel is about two journeys, one physical, the other psychological.
Both were prompted by a pogrom and a rape.
Set in the early 20th century, the physical journey involves crossing from a pogrom-ravaged Ukrainian shtetl into Poland, taking a sealed train across Germany to Belgium, waiting in Antwerp for a ship to go to America, passage in steerage over the rough Atlantic Ocean, arrival at Ellis Island, and working for an exploitative relative in New York City. Each of these segments is carefully crafted.
This journey is coupled with the impact that the rape had on the young 17-year-old victim and her fiancé, who had been powerless to prevent it.
Other well-drawn characters in this novel are a 4-year-old orphan, whose parents were murdered in the pogrom, and the mother of the fiancé, who is determined that in America all their lives will be put back together again.
Numerous Yiddish words used in the story are explained along the way as well as in the glossary, adding to the richness of the tale.
I read the book in one day, so difficult was it to put it down.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor emeritus of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com