Jacob's Folly by Rebecca Miller
In Rebecca Miller's dazzling and inventive new novel, we meet characters separated by time but united in their desire to live a life of their own choosing, free from the constraints of community and tradition.
In eighteenth-century Paris, Jacob Cerf is a Jewish street peddler burdened by a disastrous young marriage but determined to raise himself up by whatever means he can. His richly observed life in Paris' Jewish ghetto is radically altered when he gains entrance to the opulent world of the aristocracy and the freedom to create his own identity. More than two hundred years later, Jacob reappears in surprising form in the suburbs of Long Island. He soon becomes obsessed by a young Orthodox Jewish woman with a secret ambition. Determined to change her fate, Jacob takes it upon himself to entangle her with a conflicted volunteer fireman. As Jacob's mischievous plans unfold, the burdens of duty and the pull of desire will twist the lives of all three.
Rebecca Miller explores the hold of the past on the present, the power of private hopes and dreams, the collision of fate and free will, and change in all of its various guises. Transfiguring her world with a clear gaze and sharp, surprising wit, she brings Jacob's Folly vividly to life.
Rebecca Miller is the author of the short-story collection Personal Velocity, for which she received the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance with her feature-film adaptation, and The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (FSG, 2008), which she also adapted for the screen. Her family splits their time between New York and Ireland.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781250043603 |
| ISBN 10 | 1250043603 |
| Title | Jacob's Folly |
| Author | Rebecca Miller |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Picador USA |
| Year published | 2014-02-25 |
| Number of pages | 384 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |