Rhonda Ringler Cutler

The End of Bliss Rhonda Ringler Cutler

It's 1929, and Edith and Reuben Merkal, a couple from Long Island, are living the charmed life. Then the stock market crashes, ushering in the Great Depression. Reuben loses his construction business as well as the house he built for Edith and named 'Bliss.' The Merkals are victims of the times. Even so, they blame themselves and each other for their misfortunes. At first, Edith watches helplessly as a devastated Reuben does nothing about finding work. Eventually, she takes a job as a salesgirl, and comes to relish her growing independence. After Reuben reluctantly becomes involved with Sea Forth's small Jewish community as it fashions a response to an anti-Semitic incident, he begins to understand the reasons behind his life-long ambivalence toward his religion. His awakened sense of responsibility towards Europe's beleaguered Jewish population helps him put his own problems in perspective.