ISBN: 0-88739-157-5
256 pp.
Size: 6 x 9
Paperback Original
Price: $13.50
|
That Beautiful Future
Sara Ruffner
That Beautiful Future tells the story of Sandy, a fresh and idealistic young woman just beginning her working life in the Great Depression years of New York. Sandy is fired by her idealism, her vow to work for a better world, and her intense devotion to the Cause of Communism as the way to create a better future. She works in a large metropolitan hospital lab and throws herself into the comradeship of the local Communist Party. Following her principles takes her on a journey to maturity through friendship, love, marches, politics, and the gradual loss of illusions.
Review: "The story of the young urban intellectuals of the 1930s who envisioned a "beautiful future" along communist Party lines has long gone untold. And no wonder! Witch hunts of the 50s and the ensuing deep Arctic freeze of the cold War put such stories and storytellers at considerable risk. Here, perhaps for the first time, we see the actual lives of these young people as played out against the backdrop of the immense historical events: the Great Depression, the signing of the Hitler-Stalin Peace Pact, the opening volleys of WWII. . . [Mrs. Ruffner's] coming-of-age struggles, which occupy the very heart of the book, engage the reader wholly, as only authentically told tales can do. With wisdom, humor, and infinite respect for the life of her characters, Sarah Ruffner has fashioned a story about a time past that tells us more than we can imagine about our own time."
Jacqueline Kudler, College of Marin
Bio: Sara Ruffner is the author of A Liberal Education and numerous short stories. She was born in New York City, growing up on Manhattan's Lower East Side and Brooklyn. She received a BA in Chemistry from Hunter College and spent her working years in clinical bio-chemistry laboratories, and has taught courses in contemporary literature.
|
