Jewels and Ashes
About this eBook
‘Not often’, he says. ‘Such memories are a luxury I can’t afford.’
First his parents made a journey to the New World. It was the 1930s, and Europe was seething. As he grew up, Arnold Zable heard tales, songs, fragments of the world they had left behind. He had inherited a fractured, vibrant past which both fascinated and disturbed him. Finally, he had to confront the mystery: he had to travel back to the Old World, to his parents’ home, to his grandparents’ birthplace, and to a land pervaded by ancestral ghosts.
Jewels and Ashes is the result of that journey of discovery. Moving effortlessly between centuries and continents, and across inner and outer land-scapes, it is an astonishing achievement. In one stroke, the Jewish historical experience has become a gift to the world.
About the author
Arnold Zable is an acclaimed writer, novelist, and human-rights advocate. Formerly a lecturer in political science, he has travelled widely, and has lived and worked in the USA, India, Papua New Guinea, China, Europe, and South-East Asia. He has a doctorate from the School of Creative Arts, Melbourne University, and has lectured on creative writing and human-rights issues throughout Australia and internationally. Jewels and Ashes, which was Mr Zable’s debut work, won five Australian literary awards. His other books include Café Scheherazade, The Fig Tree, Scraps of Heaven, Sea of Many Returns, Violin Lessons, and The Fighter. He lives in Melbourne.
