On a Clear April Morning

Marcos Iolovitch's On a Clear April Morning is an autobiography—first published in Portuguese in 1940 with a second edition in 1987, and now introduced to English readers by Merrie Blocker. A series of short memories arranged in twenty-seven chapters of chronological order and without an overarching dramatic arc, the book becomes a chronicle rather than a novel—a chronicle of a specific time and a specific Jewish immigrant experience. Nevertheless, these are often delicately described, and the book is beautifully translated as Blocker manages to transmit the Portuguese into an English that flows naturally even through paragraph-length sentences, successfully keeping the translation as close as possible to the original phrasing without losing the musicality of Iolovitch's writing."—Eva Wissting, Asymptote

"An oft-cited fact of history isthat the first Jewish community in colonial America consisted of Jews fromBrazil who were fleeing the long arm of the Inquisition. Beyond that, however,we hear very little of the place where they came from. That's why On a ClearApril Morning, a novel written in Portuguese by the late Marcos Iolovitch,first published in Brazil in 1940 and only recently translated into English byMerrie Blocker, is such an exceptional book. … The book is considerablyenriched by the foreword, preface and afterword that appear in Blocker'stranslation. Yet, even with the enriching efforts of Merrie Blocker and other contributors to the English edition, Marcos Iolovitch is truly and fullyhimself, a writer who wins us over completely."—Jonathan Kirsch, the JewishJournal