Stepchild on the Vistula

Alexandra Sosnowski is an assistant professor in the Department of
German and Slavic Studies at the University of Manitoba.

This short novel by Canadian poet Sam Simchovitch was first published,
in Yiddish, in 1992. It follows the story of one young Otwock Jew, Nohum
Freidowicz, from birth to age 18. The result is an engaging portrait of
a young man struggling to define himself and his worldview in a small
Polish city that is in the throes of an epidemic of anti-Semitism.
Besides presenting a broad picture of Jewish life in Poland from 1921 to
1939, the novel takes us into the private lives of Nohum’s relatives,
friends, and teachers. Included in the novel is a useful, if very brief,
introduction and biographical note on the author.