Second Language
The award-winning Second Language (#105 in the Many Voices Project) marked the debut of Ronna Wineberg and her exquisite collection of thirteen short stories. In these stories, Wineberg gently but unflinchingly explores challenging emotional territory, bringing a fresh perspective on choices made and their impact on her protagonists’ lives.
What would you leave your wife if you knew your death was imminent? What would you say to your husband’s mistress if your paths should cross? What would you do if you were a doctor worried about your patient, a Holocaust survivor, and his despair? How would you address your mother’s terminal illness while also navigating an adulterous affair? In Second Language, Wineberg investigates the bonds that tie us together and how those promises, kept and unkept, are both broken and renewed.
From Sonia, an elderly widow looking for closure and finding something surprising and new, to Elaine, a lawyer with a vengeance for her husband’s lover, Second Language is home to a rich, vibrant, and profoundly human array of characters who share one thing in common: choices. At times humorous, despairing, and triumphant, the characters in Wineberg’s astutely observed worlds wrestle with changes in their lives. These beautifully rendered characters choose new paths, ranging from forgiveness to revenge.
Winner of the New Rivers Press Many Voices Project Literary Competition, and the runner-up for the Reform Judaism Prize for Jewish Fiction