The Sweet Fragrance of Life and Other Horror Stories

By: Elizabeth Schwartz

Narrated by: Elizabeth Schwartz, Yelena Shmulenson

Renowned Jewish vocalist and writer Elizabeth Schwartz’s first book of fiction “The Sweet Fragrance of Life & Other Stories” is a meditation on historic European Jewish Culture seen through the lens of a woman’s point of view.

As if Sholem Ale­ichem and Angela Carter had a child, The Sweet Fra­grance of Life & Oth­er Hor­ror Sto­ries explores Euro­pean Jew­ish his­to­ry, cul­ture, and real world events through a fem­i­nist, shtetl perspective.

This is an eerie collection of new Jewish-themed horror stories from a world that was. A Rabbi commits the gravest of sins as he lusts for a younger wife, evil is lurking in an apartment building in pre-war Germany and a young girl experiences hell at sea. These are thrilling and dark stories, but also political reflections about racism and misogyny.

©2023 by Elizabeth Schwartz. Yiddish translation © 2023 by Olniansky Tekst Farlag. (P)2024 SueMedia Productions

Critic reviews

“Each story is wonderfully unsettling in its balance between historical accuracy and horror told through an insightful feminist lens. Schwartz speaks in a smooth voice that, coupled with her descriptive prose, brings even the most unsympathetic character to life…Shmulenson follows with a commanding performance of the collection entirely in Yiddish.” AudioFile

Bilingual Yiddish Horror!

Culturally relevant and feminist Jewish horror- you could call the stories' perspective intersectional, but no spoilers here. The second half of the narration is in a lovely Yiddish translation of the English stories. These are read by a star Yiddish actor who should be hired for more audiobooks, even in English, that would benefit from correct pronunciation of Yiddish and Slavic words. This audiobook is well worth reading for the stories alone, but students of Yiddish will also benefit from listening to their translations after encountering the English originals in the first half of the performance. Hopefully the author, the publisher, or anyone else will produce more gems like this.