Dan Jacobson, a novelist, short story writer, critic, and essayist, initially focused on South African themes in his early works. His later output became more varied, encompassing fantasy, fictionalized historical accounts, memoirs, critical essays, and travel writing. Jacobson's writing is marked by a profound exploration of human psychology and societal issues, often infused with irony and intellectual acuity. His oeuvre delves into themes of identity, memory, and cultural encounters, maintaining a distinctive narrative power and linguistic precision.
Celia Dinan died some two hundred years ago – back in the twenty-first century. As her life is rediscovered it becomes apparent that she is the author of a powerful and passionate tale – a tale which only she could have written but which 'everywoman' will painfully acknowledge as her own.
Yasha the magician - sword swallower, fire eater, acrobat and master of escape - is famed for his extraordinary Houdini-like skills. Half Jewish, half Gentile, a free thinker who slips easily between worlds, Yasha has an observant wife, a loyal assistant who travels with him and a woman in every town. Now though, his exploits are catching up with him, and he is tempted to make one final escape - from his marriage, his homeland and the last tendrils of his father's religion. Set in Warsaw and the shtetls of the 1870s, Isaac Bashevis Singer's second novel is a haunting psychological portrait of a man's flight from love.