The Extraordinary Dr Epstein - Tapa blanda

Ephraim Epstein is an astonishing 19th c immigrant so bound to truth that he constantly reinvents himself, even at the cost of what he holds most dear. Starting on the fateful day he is told he must marry his cousin, this novel tells the true life of a brilliant, incorrigible man of conviction. Doctor, farmhand, missionary, sailor, scholar, journalist, university founder, Jew and Christian, Russian and American, he spoke seven languages, had two wives, fathered ten children, one of whom died in a terrible tragedy... Ephraim’s uncompromising character drives him from Czarist Belarus to antebellum America, and then back across the Atlantic. In an epic sweep across continents and history from 1850 into the 20th century he finds himself in Thessalonica, in Vienna and in the Austrian Imperial Navy before returning to new American territory in the wild West. Author Susan Lee Kerr, great-granddaughter of Ephraim Epstein, uses fact and imagination to tell a compelling tale of twists, turns and true grit.

Susan Lee Kerr is a creative writing tutor, author and poet (particularly haiku). Her novel 'The Extraordinary Dr Epstein' is the true story of the epic sweep of the life of her brilliant, incorrigible great-grandfather Ephraim M Epstein. Susan reckons she inherited Ephraim's moveable roots. She was conceived in Australia, born in West Virginia, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Gettysburg College, a Mademoiselle magazine Guest Editor and a New Yorker until half her lifetime ago she struck new roots in England. With a journalist father and an avid-reading mother, writing was her chosen path. She is author of two self-help books and numerous magazine feature articles. Her other current book is 'Creative Writing: the Matrix, exercises and ideas for creative writing teachers'. It is supported by the blog she built called 'teachingcreativewriting'. Haiku poetry by Susan is published in the journal of the British Haiku Society and has been anthologised. She is married and lives in London. More about the creative life on susanleekerr.com and to follow his adventures see ephraimmepstein.com