Ozick, Cynthia

A collection of twenty-five essays written in 1998 by some of America's most influential writers.

Eighteen-year-old orphan Rose Meadows, hired on as assistant to German immigrant Professor Mitwisser in Depression era New York, soon finds herself filling many roles in the chaotic household, and things become further complicated when she becomes involved with the Mitwisser's equally eccentric benefactor, James A'bair.

Presents a retelling of Henry James's "The Ambassadors" that follows the efforts of divorced schoolteacher Bea Nightingale to navigate a turbulent year spent with her estranged brother's family.

Contains one short story and one novella focusing on a woman named Rosa who witnesses her child being murdered by a concentration camp guard.