This is a newly revised and redesigned version of the book that was published on June 1, 2013. Set at first in late nineteenth century Eastern Europe, Fire in My Ears is a coming-of-age tale about a beautiful young woman who makes a tragic, far-reaching decision which results in three generations of pain, disappointment, and bitter struggles for happiness. The story unfolds as Mary's adoring father loves her perhaps too much, she is nearly jilted by the handsome Avram, and she brazenly makes her way by train through Europe. She continues across the English Channel, settles in the East End of London and then travels steerage with three young children to America. Finally Mary lives out her life in a mid-century American suburb amid all of her damaged and miserable descendants. Mary's story is told by her grown up granddaughter, Sarah, who learned her grandmother's lessons from nightly tales entrusted to her when she was a nine-year-old child in their shared bedroom. The book alternates between stories that sometimes delight, but often terrify Sarah, and the daily events of her own life. She listens intently for clues to understand the mean-spirited love she observes in the three generations of her family. Mary's determination to save her favorite grandchild from her own unhappy existence is perhaps her only noble gesture and it elevates her to the heroic heights her benighted beauty never could."This wonderful debut work reminds me of Fiddler on the Roof and...The Thorn Birds. The author weaves her characters into a fine tapestry and the reader is hooked from page one!" "Family is the core of Jewish life, and memory is the core of a Jewish consciousness. Susan Schneider connects these two with a novel filled with emotional insights about generations of a deeply wounded family.""Well written.... It made me cry and laugh, and feel for this granddaughter who triumphed in the end. This is a must read."
