The Flame Bearers: A Novel - Softcover

Kim Chernin, Ph.D. has won acclaim for her numerous works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, including The Obsession, In My Mother s House (Nominated for Chronicle Critics Award and Chosen as Alice Walker s Favorite Book of the Year in 1983 New York Times), The Flame Bearers (1986 New York Times Notable Book) and National Best Seller The Hungry Self.

The Flame Bearers is an occult sect of Jewish women in whom "the sacred spark is burning so hot they could call the whole world into fire" but who can also transform the sparks into "compassion to heal." The sparks are handed down from generation to generation of the Shadmi women. Rae has been chosen as this generation's leader of the sect, but she is torn between family tradition and her modern Western life. Time plays tricks with Raeand the readertransporting both to various points in the past, and the transitions can be confusing. In In My Mother's House ( LJ 5/15/83), Chernin dealt with intergenerational conflicther ownin a more straightforward and yet powerful way. Here, the flame of her considerable talent has carried her into another dimension, one that readers may have difficulty entering. Recommended for comprehensive fiction collections. Marcia G. Fuchs, Guilford Free Lib., Ct. Cixous, Helene. Inside.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.