The Tree of Life, Book One : On the Brink of the Precipice, 1939

On the Brink of the Precipice, the first volume of the trilogy The Tree of Life , describes the lives of the novel's ten protagonists in the Lodz Ghetto before the outbreak of World War II. Chava Rosenfarb, herself a survivor of the Lodz Ghetto, Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen, draws on her own history to create realistic characters who struggle daily to retain a sense of humanity and dignity despite the physical and psychological effects of ghetto life. Although the novel depicts horrendous experiences, the light of faith in the human spirit shines through this novel's every page. Winner of the 1972 J. J. Segal Prize and the 1979 Manger Prize for Yiddish Literature Frontmatter Chapter One (page 3) Chapter Two (page 23) Chapter Three (page 41) Chapter Four (page 51) Chapter Five (page 68) Chapter Six (page 76) Chapter Seven (page 87) Chapter Eight (page 95) Chapter Nine (page 113) Chapter Ten (page 129) Chapter Eleven (page 141) Chapter Twelve (page 158) Chapter Thirteen (page 173) Chapter Fourteen (page 188) Chapter Fifteen (page 203) Chapter Sixteen (page 228) Chapter Seventeen (page 245) Chapter Eighteen (page 252) Chapter Nineteen (page 270) Chapter Twenty (page 287) Chapter Twenty-one (page 296) Chapter Twenty-two (page 327) Chapter Twenty-three (page 342) Chapter Twenty-four (page 364) Glossary (page 395) This volume describes the lives of the novel's protagonists in the Lodz Ghetto at the beginning of World War II. Chava Rosenfarb, herself a survivor of the Lodz Ghetto, Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen, draws on her own history to create realistic characters who struggle daily to retain a sense of humanity and dignity despite the physical and psychological effects of ghetto life. Although horrendous experiences are depicted, the light of faith in the human spirit shines through this novel's every page