In the Land of Armadillos - Hardcover

Shankman, Helen Maryles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1501115197 ISBN 13: 9781501115196

Publisher: Scribner, 2016

Synopsis

A radiant debut collection of linked stories from a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, set in a German-occupied town in Poland, where tales of myth and folklore meet the real-life monsters of the Nazi invasion.

1942. With the Nazi Party at the height of its power, the occupying army empties Poland's towns and cities of their Jewish populations. As neighbor turns on neighbor and survival often demands unthinkable choices, Poland has become a moral quagmire--a place of shifting truths and blinding ambiguities.

Blending folklore and fact, Helen Maryles Shankman shows us the people of Wlodawa, a remote Polish town: we meet a cold-blooded SS officer dedicated to rescuing the creator of his son's favorite picture book, even as he helps exterminate the artist's friends and family; a Messiah who appears in a little boy's bedroom to announce that he is quitting; a young Jewish girl who is hidden by the town's most outspoken anti-Semite--and his talking dog. And walking among these tales are two unforgettable figures: the enigmatic and silver-tongued Willy Reinhart, Commandant of the forced labor camp who has grand schemes to protect "his" Jews, and Soroka, the Jewish saddlemaker and his family, struggling to survive.

Channeling the mythic magic of classic storytellers like Sholem Aleichem and Isaac Bashevis Singer and the psychological acuity of modern-day masters like Nicole Krauss and Nathan Englander, In the Land of Armadillos is a testament to the persistence of humanity in the most inhuman conditions.

About this title

Review

Every story in this remarkable collection reveals Helen Maryles Shankman s talent for surprising, disturbing and enlightening her readers. Blending the horrors of war with the supernatural, she creates a literary landscape that is strangely mythical and distinctively her own. These stories haunted me for days after I finished reading them. --Sarai Walker, author of Dietland"

""In The Land of the Armadillos" is a moving collection of beautifully written short stories that readers of Jewish fiction will celebrate. Not to be missed.
--Naomi Ragen, author of The Sisters Weiss"

With unflinching prose and flashes of poetry Helen Maryles Shankman spirits her readers back through history to the Polish hamlet of Wlodawa during the dark days of Nazi occupation. Horrific reality and soaring fantasy meld in serial stories that include an avenging golem, an anti-Semite who shelters a Jewish child, brutal SS officers who lay claim to 'their own Jews' and an unlikely messiah "whose breath smelled of oranges and cinnamon." That scent will linger in the memory of readers as will the haunting stories in which barbaric hatred is mitigated by the reflection of a survivor who reflects that "love is a kind of magic." There is, in fact, literary magic in these well told tales." --Gloria Goldreich, author of The Bridal Chair"

Richly rendered...Well-shaped and often word-perfect, boasting a clear narrative structure and a sure, signature voice " --The Chicago Tribune"

Populatedwith monsters and heroes [human and perhaps not], but mostly with ordinary people caught up in horrific events they neither understood nor controlled -this series of intersecting stories drew me in completely, making me read them again to find all the connections I missed the first time. The writing is fantastic, and I marvel at Shankman's literary skills.
--Maggie Anton, author of the bestselling Rashi's Daughters trilogy"

"Every story in this remarkable collection reveals Helen Maryles Shankman's talent for surprising, disturbing and enlightening her readers. Blending the horrors of war with the supernatural, she creates a literary landscape that is strangely mythical and distinctively her own. These stories haunted me for days after I finished reading them."--Sarai Walker, author of Dietland

"With unflinching prose and flashes of poetry Helen Maryles Shankman spirits her readers back through history to the Polish hamlet of Wlodawa during the dark days of Nazi occupation. Horrific reality and soaring fantasy meld in serial stories that include an avenging golem, an anti-Semite who shelters a Jewish child, brutal SS officers who lay claim to 'their own Jews' and an unlikely messiah "whose breath smelled of oranges and cinnamon." That scent will linger in the memory of readers as will the haunting stories in which barbaric hatred is mitigated by the reflection of a survivor who reflects that "love is a kind of magic." There is, in fact, literary magic in these well told tales." --Gloria Goldreich, author of The Bridal Chair

"Populated with monsters and heroes [human and perhaps not], but mostly with ordinary people caught up in horrific events they neither understood nor controlled - this series of intersecting stories drew me in completely, making me read them again to find all the connections I missed the first time. The writing is fantastic, and I marvel at Shankman's literary skills."
--Maggie Anton, author of the bestselling Rashi's Daughters trilogy

"In The Land of the Armadillos is a moving collection of beautifully written short stories that readers of Jewish fiction will celebrate. Not to be missed."
--Naomi Ragen, author of The Sisters Weiss

About the Author

Helen Maryles Shankman's stories have been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes. She was a finalist in Narrative Magazine's Story Contest and earned an Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train's Short Story Award for New Writers competition. Her stories have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Gargoyle, Cream City Review, 2 Bridges Review, Grift, Jewishfiction.net, and other publications. She is the author of the critically acclaimed novel The Color of Light and the story collection They Were Like Family to Me. She lives in New Jersey, with her husband and four children.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1501115197
• ISBN 13: 9781501115196
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 285