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First published in the United States by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 1986
This ebook edition published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019
Copyright © Faye Kellerman 1986
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
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Faye Kellerman asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Ebook Edition © March 2019 ISBN: 9780008293536
Version: 2018-11-05
âThe key to a good potato kugel is good potatoes,â Sarah Libba shouted over the noise of the blow dryer. âThe key to a great potato kugel is the amount of oil. You have to use just enough oil to make the batter moist, plus a little excess to leak out around the cake pan and fry the edges to make the whole thing nice and crisp without being too greasy.â
Rina nodded and folded a towel. If anyone would know how to cook a potato kugel, it was Sarah Libba. The woman could roast a shoe and turn it into a delicacy. But tonight Rina was too fatigued to listen with a full ear. It was already close to ten oâclock, and she still had to clean the mikvah, then grade thirty papers.
It had been a busy evening because of the bride. A lot of to-do, hand-holding, and explaining. The young girl had been very nervous, but who wouldnât be about marriage? Rivki was barely seventeen with little knowledge of the world around her. Sheltered and exquisitely shy, sheâd gotten engaged to Baruch after three dates. But Rina thought it was a good match. Baruch was a good student and kind and very patient. Heâd never once lost his temper while teaching Shmuel how to ride a two-wheeler. Heâd be calm yet encouraging, Rina decided, and it wouldnât be long before Rivki knew the ropes just like the rest of them.
Sarah shut off the dryer, and the motor belched a final wheeze. Fluffing up her close-cropped hair, she sighed and placed a wig atop her head. The nylon tresses were ebony and long, falling past Sarah Libbaâs slender shoulders. She was a pretty woman with wide brown eyes that lit up a round, friendly face. And short, not more than five feet, with a slim figure that belied the fact that sheâd borne four children. Meticulous in dress and habit, she worked methodically, combing and styling the artificial black strands.
âHere,â Rina said. âLet me help you with the back.â
Sarah smiled. âKnow what inspired me to buy this shaytel?â
Rina shook her head.
âYour hair, Rina,â said Sarah. âItâs getting so long.â
âI know. Chanaâs already mentioned it to me.â
âAre you going to cut it?â
âProbably.â
âNot too short I hope.â
Rina shrugged. Her hair was one of her best features. Her mother had raised a commotion when sheâd announced her plans to cover it after marriage. Of all the religious obligations that Rina had decided to take on, the covering of her hair was the one that displeased her mother the most. But she forged ahead over her motherâs protests, clipped her hair short, and hid it under a wig or scarf. Now, of course, the point was moot.
Working quickly and with self-assurance, Rina turned the wig into a fashionable style. Sarah Libba craned her neck to see the back in the mirror, then smiled.
âItâs lovely,â she said, patting Rinaâs hand.
âIâve got a lot to work with,â said Rina. âItâs a good shaytel.â
âIt should be,â Sarah said. âIt cost nearly three hundred dollars, and thatâs for only twenty percent human hair.â
âYouâd never know.â
The other woman frowned.
âDonât cut your hair short, Rina, despite what Chana tells you. She has a load of advice for everyone but herself. We had the family over for Shabbos and her kids were monsters. They broke Chaimâs Transformer, and do you think she offered a word of apology?â