The town of Plotchnik hasn't had a drop of rain in forty days. But the town's humble shoemaker, Poor Schmuel, has the power to command rain and much more. What makes him so extraordinary? Nobody, including the town elders, can explain it until one night the Rabbi has a very strange dream.... Francine Prose and Mark Podwal bring to life with wit and flavor another Jewish legend in this tale of Schmuel and the holy Lamed-vavniks.
Francine Prose is the author of ten highly acclaimed works of fiction, including
Bigfoot Dreams, Household Saints, Hunters and Gatherers, Primitive People, and
Guided Tours of Hell. Her work has appeared in
The New Yorker, the
Atlantic Monthly, GQ, and
The Paris Review; she is a contributing editor at
Harper's, and she writes regularly on art for the
Wall Street Journal. The recipient of numerous grants and awards, including a Guggenheim and a Fulbright, Francine Prose is a Director's Fellow at the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. She has taught at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and Johns Hopkins University. She lives in New York City.