This elliptical story of nineteenth-century shtetl Europe is narrated by Shimek whose older brother drowned, leaving an orphaned daughter. This baby niece - Buzie - who is raised as Shimek's sister, becomes at first an audience for his magical tales; then his companion on journeys through Edenic woods and fields; and, at last, the love of his life.

This love, first frustrated by Shimek's inability to speak his heart, is finally and ironically shattered on a fine point of Jewish tradition: Though an uncle may marry his niece, Shimek and Buzie have been raised as brother and sister. Shimek's tribute from the Biblical Song of Songs - "my sister, my bride" - becomes a mocking taboo.

1. Told in four parts, gorgeously written and translated, framed by the periodic cycle of the natural world, and magically decorated with a dozen specially commissioned paintings, this edition of The Song of Songs brings to compassionate life two of the most memorable star-crossed lovers in modern literature.