Through airtight prose which allows no overtones of pity, Nissenson has written a relentless assessment of the martyr's way in religion's less-than-grand designs. -- Kirkus ReviewsSet in the year 1912, this is the dramatic portrayal of Jake Brody, an orphaned fifteen-year-old immigrant; of Hannele Isaacs, the rabbi's daughter; and of the Jewish pimp Schlifka, who ruthlessly makes her one of his girls. In the struggle to save Hannele, Jake comes of age abruptly, discovering violence, perversity, and mysticism in the bitter reality of life in a turn-of-the-century American ghetto.