Uncle

by Julia Markus

Irv Bender knew the meaning of devotion—he had sacrificed his own chance for a college education so that his beloved brother Babe could go. But it is Irv, not Babe, who will become the family achiever. As half-owner of a summer camp in the Poconos, he earns more than enough to become his brother’s keeper…and a discreetly benevolent “uncle” to his partner, Mandy Mershheimer, the novelist; his talented, attractive niece, Suzanne; and his protégé and assistant, Larry Driscoll. But it is the nature of benevolence to breed resentments. And it is the nature of good intentions to frequently yield unforeseen pain. Julia Markus’s remarkable novel is a rich, compressed story of the complex relationships between family and friends, and of one man making peace with the past. "Uncle" won the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award in 1978.

137 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Wendy Cosin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting short novel written in 1978 about a Jewish extended family living in New Jersey. The novel begins during the Prohibition and continues throughout the life of one of the characters. The writing is good and both the characters and the circumstances are complex.

[Janet]