Fannie Hurst's novel bursts to life in the comic, crowded world of two upwardly mobile immigrant Jewish families, where every dinner-table argument and social outing becomes a struggle over love, money, and status. In the Binswanger household, Miriam's determined plea for a summer trip to Europe sets off a sharp, affectionate battle with her practical father Simon, her peacekeeping mother Carrie, and her teasing siblings Izzy and Ray. Europe means more than vacation: it represents polish, ...

On Thanksgiving afternoon in 1903, the twenty-two Schuylers gather in the old House on Sycamore Street, a home so steeped in births, marriages, and memories that it seems to hold the family's entire history within its walls. At the center is Mathilda Schuyler, tireless, proud, and overburdened, presiding over a feast of apple butter, winesap apples, cookies, tortes, and taffy that reflects the family's abundance, ritual, and affectionate order. Fannie Hurst turns the holiday table into a v...

Just Around the Corner is a lively, socially observant romance collection by Fannie Hurst, billed as "romance en casserole" and shaped from connected stories that mix wit, tenderness, and sharp-eyed comedy. Across beauty parlors, backstage dressing rooms, and sweltering New York apartments, Hurst captures the pressures of modern urban life with playful titles and a warm but unsparing eye for love, ambition, domestic strain, and human folly. The stories move from flirtation and emotional co...

From the crowded, music-saturated streets of New York's Lower East Side to concert halls and drawing rooms, these intertwined scenes trace the rise of a gifted immigrant child and the women who shape, shelter, and suffer for him. In Abrahm Kantor's tenement brass shop, where family life and labor share the same cramped air, young Leon's birthday plea for a violin turns a noisy household into a crucible of destiny. His mother, Sarah, sacrifices to buy the battered instrument, and Leon's fir...

Gaslight Sonatas traces the private hungers of city people who live on the edge of hope, where love, work, and luck can all turn cruelly fragile. In one thread, Gertie Slayback, a lonely New York shop girl, transforms the drudgery of rooming-house life and factory routine into a dream of home, marriage, and the steady companionship of James P. Batch. Their dinners, movies, and Saturday-night rituals feel tender and precarious at once, until her devotion drives her through Manhattan's crowd...

The Works of Fannie HurstEvery Soul Hath Its SongGaslight SonatasHumoresqueJust Around the CornerStar-DustThe Sturdy OakThe Vertical City

On either side of the Bowery, which cuts through like a drain to catch its sewage, Every Man's Land, a reeking march of humanity and humidity, steams with the excrement of seventeen languages, flung in patois from tenement windows, fire escapes, curbs, stoops, and cellars whose walls are terrible and spongy with fungi. By that impregnable chemistry of race whereby the red blood of the Mongolian and the red blood of the Caucasian become as oil and water in the mingling, Mulberry Street, bou...

The Best Works of Fannie HurstEvery Soul Hath Its SongGaslight SonatasHumoresqueJust Around the CornerStar-DustThe Sturdy OakThe Vertical City

Back Street by Fannie Hurst is a poignant and deeply emotional novel that explores the hidden costs of love, sacrifice, and societal expectations. Set against the backdrop of early 20th-century America, the story offers an intimate look at a relationship forced to exist in the shadows. The novel follows Ray Schmidt, a spirited and independent young woman whose life takes a dramatic turn when she falls in love with a married man. Bound by circumstances and constrained by social conventions,...

"The Vertical City" explores the lives of various characters residing in a high-rise apartment building. The novel delves into the complexities of urban life, focusing on the diverse residents and their interconnected stories. It portrays the struggles, ambitions, and relationships of people from different backgrounds living in the bustling metropolis.Fannie Hurst was recognized for her ability to craft stories that captured the essence of societal issues, particularly those related to wom...

The stories within "Humoresque" often explore the complexities of everyday life, relationships, and the human condition. Hurst's writing style typically delves into the emotional depth of her characters, balancing humor with a touch of sentimentality or a deeper underlying emotion, which aligns with the title suggesting a mix of laughter and sorrow.Throughout her career, Fannie Hurst was celebrated for her ability to craft engaging narratives that resonate with readers due to their emotion...

"Gaslight Sonatas" is a novel written by Fannie Hurst, an American author known for her poignant stories exploring social issues, relationships, and human emotions. However, there isn’t a known work by Fannie Hurst titled "Gaslight Sonatas."Fannie Hurst was a prolific writer who penned several novels, short stories, and plays during the early to mid-20th century. Her works often delved into themes such as love, family dynamics, societal pressures, and the human condition.It's possible that...