All of the stories in this volume are "free-standing" short stories. Stories I through VIII, however, can be regarded as "sequels" to the author's previous work, DEJA VIEWS OF AN AGING ORPHAN since they pick up on many characters and themes first introduced in that book and deal with the trials and tribulations of the Arcus/Erkes family, both in the "Old Country" and in America. The central plot and theme involving Nochem, Bashya and her children, Nochem?s sister Sonia, Mollie and her children, is told from various perspectives and points of view--not unlike the famous Japanes story RASHOMON.
The remaining stories are rooted in the United States, albeit in different cities as the author and his family move from one community to another as he climbs the ladder of greater responsibilities and rewards within the social work and communal service field. While all of the stories are based on actual events and real people, some fiction was required to fill gaps and round out the stories. For example, details surrounding Nochem?s sustaining two life-threatening wounds during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 and Bashya and her children?s eleven months odyssey from Odessa, Ukraine to Nesvizh, Poland!
Wars (civil and world), pogroms, Displaced Persons Camps, bigamy, suicide and institutionalization are some of the events experienced by the book?s characters--not too dissimilar to those in DR. ZHIVAGO. In any event, each story can be perceived as a "Journey"--actual or figurative--with some of the "Journeys" in America providing some rare insights into the eleemosynary world of community centers and capital fund-raising.
