The Penitent

The Penitent

Summary

A powerful story about a man's discovery of faith and identity after his escape from Nazi persecution in Poland, new to Penguin Modern Classics

From the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Penitent is the story of Joseph Shapiro, a disillusioned and aimless man who discovers a purpose to his life through the Jewish faith. Following his journey as he flees Nazi persecution in Poland in 1939, through wealth and a failed marriage in New York, and on to Israel, it charts his transformation from worldly confusion to spiritual certainty in orthodox Judaism. This powerful work is an examination of the nature of faith, the question of identity and the notion of how to lead a good life.

Reviews

  • Singer is a writer of far greater than ordinary power
    The New York Times

About the author

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Issac Bashevis Singer was born in Poland in 1904, and emigrated to the United States in 1935, shortly after his first novel, Satan in Goray, had been published in instalments. In 1943 he became a US citizen, but he continued to write almost exclusively in Yiddish, personally supervising the translation of his works into English. In 1978 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Issac Bashevis Singer died in Florida in 1991.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more