Beast and Bird

Available exclusively on Kindle, Jennifer Haigh's "Beast and Bird" is the story of Annie, a quiet Polish girl, sent from her farm in Pennsylvania to work for a family on the Upper West Side. In Pennsylvania, Annie could find her way around: water flowed downhill, the sun rose in the east. In New York City, she knew city streets should have their own order but to her the patterns were invisible. And she had never seen an apartment like the Nudelman's. The kitchen had two of everything: two sinks of gleaming white porcelain, two separate stoves in opposite corners. One was for noodle pudding and custards; the other for cholent and brisket, for roasting lamb and frying kreplach. "Simple," Mrs. Nudelman said to her in English. Meat was cooked on the big stove. The smaller one was for everything else. It was the early 1930s. Annie had never imagined a life like this, or a boy like Daniel Nudelman.