Blaustein's Kiss: Stories by Judith Felsenfeld

In the eleven bold and tender stories that comprise Blaustein's Kiss , Judith Felsenfeld illuminates the complexities of multigenerational family life. 
The impulse to connect is a major theme: a mother who has lost her rightful place in the family; parents ambitious for a child beyond reasonableness; a nursing home runaway and the woman who shields him; the ongoing pull of the immigrant experience as a family faces challenges to their lifelong myths and assumptions. 
Throughout, narrative skill and fine eye for the minute detail shine through. 
This assured collection is linked occasionally by character, but always by Felsenfeld's spare, funny, generous voice.

About the author: Judith Felsenfeld's early years were spent at the piano. She performed as a soloist and chamber pianist, and later moved on into performing arts management and development. Commuting back and forth between New York and Fort Lauderdale in the early '90s to care for her ailing mother, she began writing short stories. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including the Chicago Review and the Southwest Review . Her story, "The Lover," was broadcast nationwide on NPR's Selected Shorts series of readings. Judith and her husband, Carl, divide their time between New York City and the Hudson Valley, where she continues to write and plays chamber music.