The Sweet Fragrance of Life and Other Horror Stories: Der ziser duft funem lebn un andere shrek-mayses
About this audiobook
Renowned Jewish vocalist and writer Elizabeth Schwartz’s first book of fiction, “The Sweet Fragrance of Life & Other Stories” is a meditation on historic European Jewish Culture seen through the lens of a woman’s point of view.
As if Sholem Aleichem and Angela Carter had a child, The Sweet Fragrance of Life & Other Horror Stories explores European Jewish history, culture, and real world events through a feminist, shtetl perspective.
This is an eerie collection of new Jewish themed horror stories from a world that was. A Rabbi commits the gravest of sins as he lusts for a younger wife, evil is lurking in an apartment building in pre-war Germany and a young girl experiences hell at sea. These are thrilling and dark stories, but also political reflections about racism and misogyny.
About the author
Elizabeth Schwartz co-created the award-winning audio dramas The Witches of Lublin and Debs in Canton, both for Suemedia Productions. She contributed a chapter on klezmer vocal technique to Shpil: The Art of Playing Klezmer. Her recipes of Jewish food can be found in A Wandering Feast: A Journey Through the Jewish Culture of Eastern Europe, Zydzi Od Kuchni, and It’s Always About the Food. She is also an acclaimed vocalist with Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi and has been hailed as “the Edith Piaf of Yiddish." To learn more about her, visit www.Elizabeth-Schwartz.com.
Yale Strom (violin) is one of the world’s leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Romani music and history. Strom has done extensive ethnographic research in Eastern Europe. His research findings were instrumental in forming the repertoire of his klezmer band, Hot Pstromi, in directing ten award-winning documentary films, writing seventeen books, writing two award winning audio dramas, recording twenty CDs and having photo exhibitions throughout North America and Europe. Strom’s latest documentary film (2023) Recordially Yours: Lou Curtiss is about the audiophile/ethnomusicologist Lou Curtiss who lived and worked in San Diego. Currently, Strom is teaching in the Music Dept. at San Diego State University.
Yelena Shmulenson was born in Belarus, grew up in Ukraine, and emigrated to the US in the 1990s. She’s perhaps best known as the icepick-wielding ‘Dora’ in the Coen brothers’ Oscar-nominated film A Serious Man. She is an Audie-nominated and Earphone winning audio actress and has recorded several audio books, winning an Earphones Award for “Train to Trieste," Cynthia Ozick s “The Shawl," and “Rosa."
