Joan Conquest wrote this popular book that continues to be widely read today despite its age.

Small Worlds takes place in 1903 and introduces the wondrous rebbe of Krimsk, a small Hasidic settlement in Eastern Europe.The Russians called it Krimsk; the Poles called it Kromsk, but it was mainly the Jews who lived there. They called it whatever their hosts preferred. Krimsk-so it was called in 1903-had hills and valleys, forests not far from town, pastures and Welds close by . . .In the little town of Krimsk the Jews are about to celebrate Tisha BAv, the day of mourning marking the destruction of the holy Temple in Jerusalem. The teacher has instructed the young pupils in his primary class. And the Krimskers beloved rebbe, who has secluded himself in his study for the past five years, has suddenly, mysteriously emerged on the eve of the holiday. But the joy of his congregants at seeing him is to be shortlived. For this Tisha BAv will be a time of strange and momentous events, a time that will change their lives forever.Across the river is the Polish town...

Egypt is the setting for this collection, but the stories are universal -whether it's the girl whose mother no longer recognises her, a young man who uses the changing political climate to avenge his despotic father, or the woman consumed by guilt for abandoning her children. Echoing V.S. Pritchett's words, they 'look for the silent moment in which our singularity breaks through, when emotions change, without warning, and reveal themselves. And while revealing themselves they also unveil the scents and sensations of modern Cairo, from the early 1930s to the present day. Essential reading, not only for those with a love of this fascinating city but for those who cherish the story, unobtrusively and beautifully rendered.

This searing third novel in the critically acclaimed Small Worlds series records the cruel fate of the villagers of Krimsk as they encounter the twentieth-century's greatest agents of evil, Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler.It is Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish New Year and Day of Judgment — in Moscow during the Stalinist purges of 1936. In the Lubyanka secret police prison, senior investigator Grisha Shwartzman masterfully pursues the rigorous logic and obsessive legalism of the Soviet witch-hunt. Facing an extraordinary prisoner, Grisha realizes that the Soviet system he has faithfully served is murderously corrupt and that he himself will be the next victim — but not an innocent one. In despair, he flees to his home, where his deranged wife and an unexpected Rosh Hashanah letter from his father-in-law, the enigmatic Krimsker Rebbe in America, await him. The Day of Judgment proves to be a startling experience as Grisha, the once idealistic radical, judges...