Finally, the first literary work to portray the Brazilian Jewish community is available in English. Published in Portuguese in 1940, On a Clear April Morning is a lyrical and riveting coming-of-age story, set among early twentieth-century Jewish settlers brought to an unknown farming experiment in an isolated corner of Brazil, sponsored by the legacy of Baron Hirsch and other Jewish railroad tycoons. This autobiographical novel is filled with drama, joy, disaster, romance and humor as the young hero travels from farms where crops wouldn’t grow and tragic accidents carry away children, to towns where this Yiddish-speaking youngster falls in love, studies philosophy with the Jesuits and becomes an important member of Brazil’s literary world. This first English edition includes elucidating historical notes on the origin of Jewish farming communities in the U.S., Canada, and South America and the contributions of Jews and other immigrants to the development of an avant-garde intellectual center far off the beaten path, by the translator, Merrie Blocker, a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer.
Fiction
On a Clear April Morning: A Jewish Journey
- From the Publisher
September 1, 2019
Discussion Questions
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