The Victory Gardens Of Brooklyn (library Of Modern Jeish Literature) [Paperback]

Applauded for her purity of style, Merrill Joan Gerber-- in THE VICTORY GARDENS OF BROOKLYN-- plumbs the sorrows and triumphs of three generations of sisters from an American Jewish family. Rachel and Rose, who come to America from Poland, are destined to discover their fates in New York's Lower East Side, where the streets are paved with gold. Against the backdrop of two world wars, Rachel's daughters, Ava, Musetta and Gilda, propel the passionate drama of their family's destiny. In war and peace, the men they love, their husbands and sons, bring them both ecstasy and bitter grief. Musetta's daughters, Issa and Iris, are the little girls who bring the story to its poignant close at the end of World War II. With a delicate touch yet piercing insight, Gerber explores the yearnings, loves, and struggles of women who try to adapt the Jewish rituals of the old country to the requirements of the new world. Rachel's daughter Ava marries young to escape the wrath of her stepfather, while his favorite daughters, Musetta and Gilda, are in a lifelong battle of wills. Musetta, beautiful, but troubled by jealousies and anger, taunts her shy and delicate sister, Gilda, who is anguished that the man destined to marry her falls in love with Musetta. In this epic tale, Gerber's unerring pen illuminates for us a portrait of family life in all its entanglements, revelations, and victories.