Ben Preserve Us

I bring you up to believe that nothing is good enough for you, and you grow up to be good for nothing. Thus, Mrs. Bindle, on learning that Ben, her only-begotten son, has decided to be a Rabbi; what is more, a Rabbi in a small provincial town in Scotland. Her anxiety proves to be not unjustified, although Ben's chosen career has its compensations-perhaps Helen, the promiscuous teenage daughter of his housekeeper; perhaps Simmy, the young wife of an elderly parishioner; perhaps the whole incident-prone pace of the pawky Scottish town in which this richly-human story is set. Chaim Bermant's third novel has all the wit, warmth and colour of its critically-acclaimed forerunners.