Bread Givers: A Struggle between a Father of the Old World and a Daughter of the New World

Set on New York's Lower East Side during the 1920s, this is the moving story of a young woman's struggle to free herself from the traditional female role in an Orthodox Jewish family and society. Sara Smolinksy, the youngest daughter of a rabbi, watches as her father marries off her sisters into dire circumstances, and she vows to escape this fate. She leaves home, takes a job as an ironer, and rents a room with a door: "This door was life. It was air. The bottom starting-point of becoming a person." Sara's rebellion and her struggle for self-fulfillment -- for education, work, and a marriage based on love -- resonates with a passionate intensity all can share.In this new edition, the original text is retained; the introduction is updated; and a new foreword is added describing the discovery of this important work and the relationship with Yezierska's daughter that followed.Anzia Yezierska (1889-1970), a Polish Jewish immigrant, wrote about "her people" -- the Jews of the Lower East Side-- in an autobiography, short stories, and novels many published by Persea.Yezierska, Anzia is the author of 'Bread Givers: A Struggle between a Father of the Old World and a Daughter of the New World' with ISBN 9780892550142 and ISBN 0892550147.