Author talk and reading in conversation with Rabbi George Altshuler.

David Perlstein will discuss his two newest books, Taking Stock, an absorbing glimpse of a recent widower taking stock of the achievements and betrayals marking his wide range of relationships and The Short (Pun Intended) Redemptive Life of Little Ned, a page-turning journey through the early twentieth century, as three children of poor Jewish families stagger beneath the grueling promise of the American Dream. 
In person only. Refreshments provided. 

David Perlstein has authored nine novels and a volume of short stories. He also wrote God’s Others: Non-Israelites’ Encounters with God in the Hebrew Bible and Solo Success: 100 Tips for becoming a $100,000-a-Year Freelancer. David lives in San Francisco. davidperlstein.com

Taking Stock (published in May 2024)
In this gripping novel of loss and regret, Steve Goldman, about to turn 80, has just buried his wife Evelyn. Alone in his San Francisco home, he ponders his future, wonders if loneliness awaits him as a widower. For that matter, will he want to share his remaining years with another woman? If so, will he be worthy? 

Steve undergoes the challenging process of taking stock of his life—the good he’s done and the bad. Digging deep into his memory, he examines his relationships with Evelyn, his daughters, women in his post-college/post-army years and his “blood brother” childhood friends from New York. The scales tip back and forth, influenced by achievements and kindnesses, betrayals and pain. 

The Short (Pun Intended) Redemptive Life of Little Ned (published in May 2023): Early in the twentieth century, three children of poor Jewish immigrants stagger beneath the grueling promise of the American Dream. 

Nate Cohen, the pint-size son of an alcoholic prizefighter and Bohemian mother in San Francisco, turns to crime, flees to cook on cattle ranches as Ned Christianson and joins a Wild West show. Kayleh Rubenstein, a red-headed tailor’s daughter, becomes the vaudeville star Clara Robbins, abused and descended into liquor and morphine. Jake Orlinsky, a New York orphan, picks pockets while performing as the magician Joseph Hartwig, briefly a pupil of Harry Houdini. They meet at San Francisco’s 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, part ways and, in Los Angeles, seek separate careers in silent films. After they reunite, two violent events produce tragedy and redemption.