The Man In The White Sharkskin Suit - Plot & Excerpts
Change your name, the mystics say, and you will avert even the most terrible fate. When I was born, nearly four years after the death of Baby Alexandra, my family felt an overwhelming sense of relief followed by a rush of panic. Simcha Allegra, the midwife who delivered me in the back bedroom of Malaka Nazli, and whose Hebrew and Italian names both meant “joy,” stepped into the parlor to tell my father the good news. He had a new baby girl, the midwife announced, and both mother and daughter were well. She spoke crisply and with authority, as befits a woman who has delivered hundreds of infants. It was one of those rare times in this vast Syrian clan obsessed with producing sons that a baby girl found herself wanted. My birth was seen as a sign that the family’s luck was changing. The all-merciful God who had taken away one little girl from Malaka Nazli had now shown his infinite compassion by giving back a little girl to Malaka Nazli. But with the elation came fear that turned into paralysis.
What do You think about The Man In The White Sharkskin Suit?
