There Is No Other: Stories

A second collection of powerful stories by Papernick (The Ascent of Eli Israel) pursues the conflicted inner turmoil of Jews caught in a modern maelstrom. The chilling title story, set during Purim in a New York City Jewish school, pits a well-meaning, beleaguered young teacher against one of his disaffected charges, the angry half-Haitian Junius Barker, who comes to class dressed as a suicide-bombing prophet Mohammed and challenges the teacher to explain why the Jews are the chosen people. In "A Kiss for Mrs. Fisch," a 40-year-old businessman on his first trip to Israel and his first time away from his mother, decides to get a wife, but finds himself swimming uncomfortably between American materialism and ritualistic Judaism. In "The Madonna of Temple Beth Elohim," a shell-shocked Iraqi war victim offered work at a Boston-area synagogue believes he sees the imprint of the Madonna in a pulpit, setting off a firestorm between Christian pilgrims and bewildered Jews. And in "The Last Five-Year Plan," the millionaire developer protagonist hits on a brilliant idea to establish accord between Israelis and Palestinians: he'll introduce them to baseball. Papernick's new collection is tight and fearless. (Sept.)