In his school picture Benjamin is the kid in the second row, off to one side. Now in his twenties, his education is interrupted by the death of his parents. He is determined to complete his education, to accomplish something to get him out of the second row. That is his purpose for coming to America, where his widowed aunt Hannah is offering encouragement and support. He is a refugee from Nazi Germany, arriving with his family in Palestine during the Arab riots of 1936. He is a past soldier and fighter in the Israel War of Independence, and carries with him the idealism that he grew up with. Benjamin arrives in Times Square just as the US economy of the 1950s starts to boom. Hannah, a Bronx resident fifteen years his senior, introduces him to Radio City, South Pacific, the subway, and the supermarket. Each fills a void in the other's life. They fall in love. Haunted by loneliness, they cling to each other and wrestle with age differences and different stages of their lives. Their love survives while he pursues a bachelor's degree in Connecticut, where her sister lives. Their bond weakens as he is drawn into the 1950s culture of small town America, but it does not break. When he goes to graduate school in Maryland their relationship unravels. Hanna, the product of a wealthy upper Manhattan east side family has a privileged upbringing, cannot relate to his life on a teaching assistantship surrounded by people his age. She seeks a new start in far away Jerusalem, where she is a volunteer at Hadassah hospital and eventually marries a doctor. Benjamin and a fellow graduate student Karen form a loving relationship. She craves sunshine and moves to Florida, and he moves north in pursuit of an academic career. Their goals diverge but their emotional pull brings them together from time to time. Conflicts between their preferred lifestyles and professional goals keep causing them distress but parting becomes more difficult after times together. After a few years of separation, Benjamin meets Hannah and her husband. He realizes that he is in love with Karen and that he wants her in his life. She is waiting for this, and their love brings them together in marriage.
About the Author: David Sprecher I arrived with my family on the shores of Palestine during the Arab riots of 1936 as a refugee from Nazi Germany. I am a veteran of the Israel War of Independence, for which I was awarded the Independence ribbon. In my home town Tel-Aviv I studied fine art and graphic design in my youth at the Urwand Studio, and have worked as an illustrator and commercial artist in both Israel and the U.S. As a member of thar studio I worked on the planning and preparation of graphic materials for the 25th Anniversary Exhibition of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. I also designed and executed exhibitions in Tel-Aviv and produced book illustrations, including children books. Concurrent with artistic activities I studied mathematics at The Hebrew University, coming to the United States in 1955 to pursue my graduate education; I studied at Columbia University the University of Maryland, from which I earned a Ph.D. in mathematics. My scientific work includes six books on mathematics published by Harper and Row, Academic Press, and Dover, and articles published in mathematics and neural network journals. Fiction writing interspersed with mathematical research began in the 1980s, leading subsequently to the completion of an autobiography and five novels within the past ten years. During this period I continued publishing articles on neural networks and ahistorical study: From algebra to computational algorithms, soon to appear in print. I live in New York next to one of two daughters from a previous marriage and her family; my other daughter lives in Syracuse in upstate New York.