Four years after the Chmielnicki massacres of the seventeenth century, Jacob, a slave and cowherd in a Polish village high in the mountains, falls in love with Wanda, his master's daughter. Even after he is ransomed, he finds he can't live without her, and the two escape together to a distant Jewish community. Racked by his consciousness of sin in taking a Gentile wife and by the difficulties of concealing her identity, Jacob nonetheless stands firm as the violence of the era threatens to destroy the ill-fated couple.

Like Isaac Bashevis Singer's fiction, this poignant memoir of his childhood in the household and rabbinical court of his father is full of spirits and demons, washerwomen and rabbis, beggars and rich men. This rememberance of Singer's pious father, his rational yet adoring mother, and the never-ending parade of humanity that marched through their home is a portrait of a magnificent writer's childhood self and of the world, now gone, that formed him.

Comedy / 6m, 6f, a larger ensemble may be used In this fractured folk tale based on a story by Isaac Bashevis Singer, Mazel and Shlimazel, the spirits of Good Luck and Bad Luck, make a bet to determine who is the more powerful. The terms: Mazel will take a hapless young man named Tam under her wing for one year, at the end of which Shlimazel will attempt to undo everything she's done in one second. That's the point at which Tam and the princess with whom he's fallen in love have to rely upon their own ingenuity to save the kingdom and keep Tam's neck out of the hangman's noose. Along the way, matters are complicated by a crafty prime minister, a superstitious nurse, and a lion on the loose!

‘[A] delightful and distinguished book [of seven tales] from middle European folklore [by the winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize for Literature].’ —BL.

1967 Newbery Honor Book
Notable Children's Books of 1940–1970 (ALA)
1966 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)
"Best of the Best" Children's Books 1966–1978 (SLJ)
Best Illustrated Children's Books of 1966 (NYT)
Children's Books of 1966 (Library of Congress)
Children's Books of the Year 1966 (CSA)

From the Nobel Prize-winning writer, a new collection of literary and personal essays Old Truths and New Cliches collects nineteen essays-most of them previously unpublished in English-by Isaac Bashevis Singer on topics that were central to his artistic vision throughout an astonishing and prolific literary career spanning more than six decades. Expanding on themes reflected in his best-known work-including the literary arts, Yiddish and Jewish life, and mysticism and philosophy-the book illuminates in new ways the rich intellectual, aesthetic, religious, and biographical background of Singer's singular achievement as the first Yiddish-language author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Like a modern Montaigne, Singer studied human nature and created a body of work that contributed to a deeper understanding of the human spirit. Much of his philosophical thought was funneled into his stories. Yet these essays, which Singer himself translated into English or oversaw the translation of, present his ideas in a new way, as universal reflections on the role of the artist in modern society. The unpublished essays featured here include "Old Truths and New Cliches," "The Kabbalah and Modern Times," and "A Trip to the Circus." Old Truths and New Cliches brims with stunning archival finds that will make a significant impact on how readers understand Singer and his work. Singer's critical essays have long been overlooked because he has been thought of almost exclusively as a storyteller. This book offers an important correction to the record by further establishing Singer as a formidable intellectual.

Yasha the magician - sword swallower, fire eater, acrobat and master of escape - is famed for his extraordinary Houdini-like skills. Half Jewish, half Gentile, a free thinker who slips easily between worlds, Yasha has an observant wife, a loyal assistant who travels with him and a woman in every town. Now, though, his exploits are catching up with him, and he is tempted to make one final escape - from his marriage, his homeland and the last tendrils of his father's religion. Set in Warsaw and the shtetls of the 1870s, Isaac Bashevis Singer's second novel is a haunting psychological portrait of a man's flight from love. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature

When Chelm community leader, Gronam Ox, is given a live carp in honour of his great wisdom, he is delighted. He knows, of course, that eating the brain of a carp increases wisdom and that the size of the tail is indicative of the size of the brain. But when the carp uses that very tail to slap him across the face - in what can only have been a deliberate act - Gronam Ox is shocked. Surely no Chelm carp would have behaved in such an appalling manner. There is nothing else for it; the carp must be punished. While Gronam Ox ponders the most fitting punishment, the carp is fed and looked after in a large tub of water stationed in the town centre. It is essential that the carp survives until the day of judgement but Gronam Ox's deliberations are taking quite some time. The carp grows fatter and fatter until finally, many months later, Gronam Ox arrives at an apt sentence - one so clever that all the people of Chelm flock to see it exacted. The carp must be drowned. Written for children by the master storyteller, and former Nobel Laureate, Isaac Bashevis Singer, this classic Yiddish folktale is infused with his signature humour, warmth and wisdom. This beautifully illustrated new publication will bring the famously foolish people of Chelm to life for a new generation of children.

It is Warsaw in the 1930s. Aaron Greidinger is an aspiring young writer and the son of a rabbi, who struggles to be true to his art when he is faced with the chance of riches and a passport to America. But as the Nazis threaten to invade Poland, Aaron rediscovers Shosha, his childhood sweetheart - still living on Krochmalna Street, still strangely childlike - who has been waiting for him all these years. In the face of unimaginable horror, he chooses to stay... One of Isaac Bashevis Singer's most personal works, Shosha is an unforgettable novel about conflicted desires, lost lives and the redemption of one man.

‘[A] delightful and distinguished book [of seven tales] from middle European folklore [by the winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize for Literature].' 'BL.

1967 Newbery Honor Book
Notable Children's Books of 1940–1970 (ALA)
1966 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)
"Best of the Best" Children's Books 1966–1978 (SLJ)
Best Illustrated Children's Books of 1966 (NYT)
Children's Books of 1966 (Library of Congress)
Children's Books of the Year 1966 (CSA)

Isaac Bashevis Singer's work explores humanity in all of its guises. This collection of forty-seven short stories, selected by Singer himself from across the whole of his career, brings together the best of his writing. From the supernatural 'Taibele and Her Demon' to the poignant 'The Unseen', and from gentle humour in 'Gimpel the Fool' to tragedy with 'Yentl the Yeshiva Boy', these tales explore good and evil, passion and restraint, religious fervour and personal failings, within the traditional shtetls of pre-war Eastern Europe and post-war America.

"A piercing work of fiction with a strong claim to being Singer's masterpiece" - Richard Bernstein, "The New York Times". 'Shadows On The Hudson" traces the intertwined lives of a group of Jewish refugees in New York City in the late 1940s. At its centre is Boris Makaver, a pious, wealthy businessman whose greatest trial is his unstable daughter, Anna. A chain of events disrupts the lives of the close-knit community as each refugee struggles to reconcile the horrific past with the difficult present, as Singer explores both the nature of faith and the nature of love in the aftermath of the Holocaust.

From the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Isaac Bashevis Singer, comes a fictional exploration of primitive history. Singer's novel portrays an era of superstition and violence in a country emerging from the darkness of savagery. Set in Poland in the dark ages, it describes the brutality, prejudice and subjugation that occur when hunter-gatherers and farmers struggle for supremacy over the land. Part parable of modern civilization, part fascinating historical novel, this modern myth is a philosophical examination of man and his beliefs, and reaffirms the author's reputation as a master of narrative invention.

From the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Penitent is the story of Joseph Shapiro, a disillusioned and aimless man who discovers a purpose to his life through the Jewish faith. Following his journey as he flees Nazi persecution in Poland in 1939, through wealth and a failed marriage in New York, and on to Israel, it charts his transformation from worldly confusion to spiritual certainty in orthodox Judaism. This powerful work is an examination of the nature of faith, the question of identity and the notion of how to lead a good life.

To mark the centennial of the birth of Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Library of America presents a major celebration of Singer's achievement, beginning with "Gimpel the Fool" and concluding with "The Death of Methuselah."

The pogrom that had swept through Poland was now being hailed as a sign of the Coming of the Lord, the birth pangs of the Messiah. And in the little town of Goray, laid waste by murder, famine and demonic spirits, the stargazers said that they had seen one Sabbatai Zevi, robed in purple, bedecked with jewels, riding a wild lion into the city of Jerusalem. So the holy Rabbi Benish was usurped and the townspeople began to believe that the sick would be magically healed and the ugly made beautiful, and their children would wear golden jackets and dine on marzipan and candy. Meanwhile, as the dark forces gather, the prophetess Rechele falls into a hideous ecstatic trance, for it is she who has been chosen as the Devil's bride .

Jacob, a Jewish slave held in a mountain village after escaping a massacre by Cossacks, will be killed if he tries to escape. The one saving grace is his love for his master's daughter, Wanda. They begin a secret affair, trying to avoid the cruelty of the other villagers, until one day Jacob's fortunes unexpectedly change. Now he must choose between his need to be with his people and his love for Wanda, who in turn will also discover the meaning of brutality. In The Slave, published in 1962, Isaac Bashevis Singer creates a dreamlike portrayal of isolation, rejection, love and the meaning of sacrifice.

Herman Broder, a refugee and Holocaust survivor, has three women in his life: Yadwiga, the loyal Polish peasant who hid him in a hayloft from the Nazis; Masha, his beautiful and neurotic true love; and Tamara, his first wife. Unsure of who he really is, what he wants and whether he can ever find peace, Herman navigates a crowded, Yiddish New York with a sense of paranoia and impending doom. Published in 1972, Enemies, A Love Story is an astonishing novel that blends humour and pathos to create a rich, humane portrayal of a man who cannot escape his past.