Isaac Bashevis Singer "The Slave"

A beautiful book by this Nobel Prize laureate.  It narrates the life of Jacob - a Yiddish man sold as a slave to a mountain top polish village - set in the 1600's which was a tumultuous time for the Jews in eastern europe.  Singer describes some of the atrocities committed by the cossacks during his narrative.  Jacob falls in love with a mountain girl.  She is a regal character and she is developed as a true heroine and truth speaker, but also framed by Jacob's spiritual turmoil and the turmoil of the jewish community over his 'unclean' love for her - he is a religious jew.  The novel concludes with Jacob returning to Pilitz from the holy land to recover the bones of his beloved Wanda from the ground.  In many ways this novel explores the courageous struggle for authenticity and truth and life in his two characters against a backdrop of depravity.