Away

Away Amy Bloom

Adult Fiction Bloom


Barbara Rosenblatt does an excellent job narrating the story of Lillian
Leyb who comes to America in 1924 after her family is killed in a Russian
pogrom. Here she manages to get a job as a seamstress in the Goldfadn
Yiddish Theater where she becomes the mistress of the leading actor and
his father. Her friend at the theater, Yaakov Shimmelman, gives her a
thesaurus and coaches her in English. When she learns that her daughter
Sophie did not die in the pogrom, he helps her procure cheap passage to
Seattle, her launching off point for a trip to Siberia to find Sophie.
There she falls in with a kind African-American prostitute who rescues her
after she is robbed.



Lillian's trip by foot across Alaska is amazing, helped along the way by
kind strangers. Lillian's voyage is filled with tragedy, humor and
compassion; she is not one to wallow in self-pity. Lillian is open to all
experiences and without umbrage. A wonderful read or listen.