A Year in Reading: Diane Williams

December 3, 2009 | 1 book mentioned 1

coverI read Satan in Goray by Isaac Bashevis Singer — and left it in Illinois for my mother when I was visiting. She suffers from serious dementia, but expressed excitement about this book and wanted to read it. It’s set in 17th-century Poland — during the aftermath of a catastrophic massacre of the Jews. Messiahs and Devils abound in this book amid the 17th century music Singer has miraculously composed. My mother was born in a similar place in this vicinity. My mother told me her mother died of fear. They were all terribly mad.

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is the editor of NOON. Her most recent book of fiction, It Was Like My Trying to Have a Tender-Hearted Nature, a novella and stories, was published by FC2 in 2007.