A novel by Marisa Kantor Stark
September 1, 1998 • 6 x 9 • 208 pages • 978-1-56689-074-8
Maimie hid from Hitler during the Holocaust, and from her guilt ever since. A brilliant debut!
The guilt of a terrible decision haunts this vivid portrayal of one woman’s life, which invokes turn-of-the-century rural Poland, post-war New York, and a present day nursing home. In this incredible debut, twenty-five-year-old Marisa Kantor Stark captures the voice of ninety-two-year-old Maime with perfect pitch.
Maime grew up in a world marked by religious ritual and strong family ties. Always a fighter, she persevered in a troubled marriage, survived the Holocaust by hiding in a root cellar, and met the daunting challenge of starting over again in America. Yet as her narrative alternates between her memories of the past and her feelings of abandonment in the present, Maime struggles to come to grips with an awful moment unfairly forced on her by history. Bring Us the Old People is a powerful mediation on the weight of the past, the force of circumstance, the limits of choice, and the cost of survival.