Fic­tion

A Time to Cast Away Stones

  • From the Publisher
April 23, 2012
A Time to Cast Away Stones, tells the sto­ry of Janet Mag­ill, a shy, straight-arrow Berke­ley fresh­man with com­pelling rea­sons to join the anti­war move­ment. Janet’s broth­er has been shipped off to Viet­nam, and Aaron Beck­er, her child­hood sweet­heart, might well be next. When Janet’s par­ents ban­ish her from Berke­ley to what they expect will be a safe, idyl­lic spring­time in Paris, she runs head­long into the 1968 May Rev­o­lu­tion and falls in love with a secre­tive Czech dis­si­dent. Far from the dis­tant and haunt­ing City of Light, Aaron makes plans to evade the draft and join her. He fol­lows Janet’s jour­ney through an embat­tled cor­re­spon­dence, wit­ness­es the wrench­ing explo­ration of her capac­i­ty for love, respon­si­bil­i­ty and sac­ri­fice, then los­es con­tact as her safe” year abroad turns into a dan­ger­ous com­ing of age.

In this pow­er­ful nov­el, Elise Frances Miller pos­es a ques­tion of intense inter­est to Jew­ish audi­ences. In today’s polit­i­cal cli­mate, how do we remain inde­pen­dent moral enti­ties while cop­ing with polit­i­cal and social forces beyond our con­trol? Although not writ­ing on a Jew­ish theme, the author’s val­ues and neshama as an active Jew, whose hus­band is a pro­gres­sive rab­bi, inform the sto­ry and shape its char­ac­ters.

 

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