Katerina

Full of beauty and pain… a chilling allegory that attains a satisfying force -- John Self * Observer *
Read this book . . . Think what a gift of lyric language and style, of emotion purified by pain this is -- Anne Roiphe * Los Angeles Times *
Appelfeld reimagines the place of his own origins through a perspective that in its generosity of feeling recalls Tolstoy and Chekhov -- Judith Grossman * The New York Times Book Review *
With piercing clarity, Israeli novelist Appelfeld tells the profoundly moving story of Katerina, a Polish housekeeper who works for a succession of Jewish families in the years before WWII... A theme that might be didactic in the hands of a lesser novelist is here conveyed with moving, unpreachy simplicity. This masterful novel is a powerful study of the poison of prejudice, a poignant meditation on life's horrors, beauty and God's inscrutable ways. Appelfeld imbues every scene with deep humanity in a riveting tale of universal appeal. * Publisher's Weekly *
An astounding achievement, among the best pages Appelfeld has ever written.. intense, disturbing. * Kirkus Reviews *