It's life as usual, for Tamar Spira: newborn twins, dishes, and laundry. That is, until her hUSBand, Elimelech, breaks the terrifying news that the Mafia has come after him, pressuring him to pay back loans his recently deceased father owes. In the turmoil that results, Tamar watches her stable, strong hUSBand crumble before her very eyes, only to reach the shattering, horrible conclusion that there is no Mafia, there are no loans. Elimelech is truly a prisoner of his own mind, captive to the bewildering, devastating symptoms of schizophrenia. In this true - to - life novel, the reader is drawn into a maelstrom as a young wife struggles with"live widowhood", small children try to understand what has become of their Abba, and the community responds to this difficult challenge.