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Yearning

by Marcel Arieli

188 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #06-2152; ISBN 1-4251-0395-2; US$17.00, C$19.55, EUR13.96, £9.77

Yearning is a collection of six short stories of love, deception, yearning, and revenge — stories of simple people striving to find happiness.

About the Book

The six stories in this collection have one thing in common: deep in their souls, the main characters have a painful yearning for love, an everlasting hope of finding their soul mates to help them bear life's hardships, and to give them a sense of purpose.

Fred's exaggerated sense of duty ("The Escort") almost wrecks his life, but also opens a window to his distant past, which might bring unexpected bliss.

To be too serious when your companions expect you to be more cheerful might put you in an awkward position, but Vera ("Being Old Forever"), through her love of nature, (and a bit of luck), succeeds in finding happiness in her beloved mountains.

Love is blind, love is without reason; so no one can blame Lucille ("By the Look In His Eyes") for her deep love for Darren, not even her friend who loves her dearly, yet hopelessly. And when tragedy happens, he is devastated, but sometimes life reserves surprises for us.

The first buds of a new and delightful feeling in a little boy's heart turn into a yearning that lasts for years ("Yearning"). When the girl he had been playing with disappears without a trace, leaving him with only her dear image and a crystal prism, Eddy begins a long and fruitless quest.

When two people love each other as much as Allan and Helen ("The Good Neighbor"), one might expect life to be an eternal source of happiness. But when tragic events change the course of their lives forever, Allan embarks on a journey of revenge.

Eileen's hopes for happiness ("Reflection of the Soul") seemed to be fulfilled, but little by little she discovers the bitter truth and faces unexpected dangers.

About the Author

Born in Romania and now living in Israel, the author worked for many years as an electronic engineer, until his retirement three years ago. With plenty of time on his hands, he embarked on the enchanted journey he had dreamt of for many years: writing stories, the kind of stories he had always enjoyed reading, stories of deep human emotion, of hope and despair, of simple people caught up in the whirlpools of life.

This collection of short stories is his first book, and if it manages to arouse even a tiny bit of the reader's interest, it will have achieved its purpose.

Excerpts