Moriel Roth­man-Zech­er on Before All the World

Con­tin­u­ing our part­ner­ship with The Cen­ter for Fic­tion, Jew­ish Book Coun­cil is thrilled to wel­come Day­ton Lit­er­ary Peace Prize and Nation­al Jew­ish Book Award final­ist Moriel Roth­man-Zech­er to the stage for a con­ver­sa­tion on his mes­mer­iz­ing, inven­tive new nov­el, Before All the World.

In 1930s Philadel­phia, three souls seize new life while haunt­ed by the old. Nes­tled in this wild dream of a nar­ra­tive are sev­er­al love sto­ries: two men of dif­fer­ent coun­tries and races who find com­fort in each oth­er; a man and a woman who spark each other’s lust through intel­lec­tu­al play; a woman and a boy who are the only sur­vivors of their his­to­ry; a man and the daugh­ter he will nev­er know. Roth­man-Zech­er explores the impos­si­bil­i­ty of escap­ing trau­ma, the neces­si­ty of believ­ing in a bet­ter way ahead, and the pow­er that comes from our respon­si­bil­i­ty to the future.