MICHAEL LADNER

MRS. WOODBINE’S PREJUDICES

ENVELOPE BOOKS 2024

Available now on AMAZON.COM

In the summer of 1960, three brothers- Marcus, Val, and Adrian Lash- cross the Atlantic to reconnect with their grandfather, Hermann Lasch, who has rebuilt a thriving business in Vienna, after having been exiled during the Nazi occupation.

In the course of their transatlantic voyage and sojourn in the Old World, the boys and their parents- accompanied by an uninvited but vigilant companion, Mrs. Ruby Woodbine- encounter comical mishaps and outright disasters, against a background of painful memories of war and persecution. What was intended to be a comfortable family reunion is thrown into turmoil by a suspected teenage pregnancy, a botched suicide attempt, and the accidental (or purposeful?) shooting of Hermann Lasch’s feckless chauffeur, Franz Gorlice.

Once back home, the Lash boys must face an awkward transition from childhood to adolescence, in a country poised between the conservative Eisenhower years, and the cultural upheavals of the 1960’s.

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