New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001. dj. Hardcover first edition - The author's first novel (preceded by an award winning collection of short stories) "1953, Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Chenia Arnow is a petite, sensuous Betty Grable look-alike, a Russian emigre whose Old World fear of the Evil Eye and heavily accented English cannot mask her fierce intelligence and wit. Her husband, Ruben, is both a charmer and miserly, often absent, with a penchant for trumped-up lawsuits. He has a mistress. Chenia is pregnant. It is this child, Chenia's daughter Devorah, who tells the story of her parents' marriage." 388 pp. ISBN: -375408924.