Auster's tale of family dynamics past and present from the author of contemporary classic The New York Trilogy : 'a literary voice for the ages' ( Guardian ) 'I was looking for a quiet place to die. Someone recommended Brooklyn, and so the next morning I travelled down there from Westchester to scope out the terrain . . .' So begins Paul Auster's remarkable novel, The Brooklyn Follies . Set against the backdrop of the contested US election of 2000, it tells the story of Nathan and Tom, an uncle and nephew double-act. One in remission from lung cancer, divorced, and estranged from his only daughter, the other hiding away from his once-promising academic career, and, indeed, from life in general. Having accidentally ended up in the same Brooklyn neighbourhood, they discover a community teeming with life and passion. When Lucy, a little girl who refuses to speak, comes into their lives, there is suddenly a bridge from their pasts that offers them the possibility of redemption. Infused with character, mystery and humour, these lives intertwine and become bound together as Auster brilliantly explores the wider terrain of contemporary America - a crucible of broken dreams and of human folly.

As the author of this gripping narrative, Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, M.D. makes his debut as a novelist par excellence. World renowned for his self-help books, in Light at the End of the Tunnel he departs from this mode to create characters that are compelling, vulnerable, witty, curious - and most of all, palpably human. The story revolves around a secular Jew, Alan Silverman, a successful lawyer, whose professional life has earned him wealth, prestige and a reputation for invincibility. Everything is going well for him, until a dreaded disease threatens to upend his carefully built personal empire. Suddenly faced with the prospect that his life may soon end, he searches for answers to questions he had never asked before. In the process, he discovers a new element in his life - a neshamah, an eternal soul. A world closed to him in the past - an eternal world of spiritual meaning - slowly unfolds as he relentlessly pursues the purpose of his life. Challenged and enthralled by the mystical teachings of Judaism, he explores the idea of an Afterlife and, most surprisingly, discovers the fulfillment of a life well lived. With the talent of a novelist, the deep insight of a master psychologist and the Torah wisdom of his heritage, Rabbi Dr. Twerski has achieved a powerful literary breakthrough. This one-of-a-kind book is an illuminating and uplifting masterpiece.