Black Market Alley

About the Book

Black Market Alley is a saga that spans three continents and the lives of four generations of the Marushki clan. It begins in a small, impoverished village in Romania. The patriarch of the family Shiklu is a breeder of horses and if he had not been born into the Jewish persuasion his name would have been synonymous with great horse flesh. The initial episode brings the most relaxed and unconcerned reader out of his or her lethargy and into the world of prejudice, hatred and evil. The leader of a violent band of cutthroats is one Boris Pushkin who would have made Lucifer cringe in fear. He learns of ill treatment perpetrated on his son and without investigating the circumstances gathers his band of thugs to reap vengeance on the personage of Shiklu. This subhuman creature takes enormous delight in delivering Draconian measures to those who would dare to defy him or humiliate his offspring. Retribution is swift and results in the untimely demise of Shiklu. In one swift raid the Marushkis find themselves without a father, a husband and no means of subsistence. Thus they make an immediate decision to depart from the village of their birth leaving their home and friends and neighbors. Of necessity they would have to leave the country to avoid punishment for what they intended to do. Their vision was to migrate to the United States and finally live a peaceful existence devoid of annual pogroms. In the still of the night the remaining members leave the hamlet for all time hoping that they will be enabled to negotiate the travails which they will have to face and endure on their journey. During the trip their eldest son is accosted and seriously wounded. So much so that he must be left behind. Years will pass before the family learns of his condition and is reunited with him, at least for a short duration. The daughter contracts tuberculosis and succumbs to the dreaded disease. The younger son Mox resides with his mother whose entire personality goes through a metamorphosis as a result of losing her partner in life along with her daughter and perhaps a son within such a brief period. From a compassionate, intelligent and loving mother to that of an ill tempered old lady with an acerbic tongue. The murder had taken its toll and she is no longer, nor will she ever recapture her genteel and agreeable nature. Mox eventually marries a much younger female who emigrated to this country from the Ukraine. She lives with her sister's family whose husband is a tyrannical boor. The sister actually harbors affectionate feelings toward Mox and plots to bring the two together so that Mox does not disappear from the picture. Mox has three offspring and operates a grocery store with his spouse. A surprising children's game leads to a discovery by the eldest son that could easily force a schism in their parents marriage. Mox is a mild mannered, thoughtful person but he will not tolerate extra marital sexual affairs between his spouse and another. He is aware that a divorce would result in the children being shuffled between their parents and that is not a favorable prospect. He makes the case that it would make more sense to reside with an adulteress than to leave his family motherless. Thus he handles the information with the greatest of restraint and composure as he is cognizant that to take an accusatory attitude and/or assume a hostile posture would only make matters worse. He never reveals any of this knowledge to his mother although there are times that he concedes that she must know of her daughter -in-law's assignations. The youngest son joins the army and is promptly shipped to Korea during that country's police action. He indulges his sexual appetite and leaves one of the Korean maidens with child although he will not learn of this until she passes away and he has very few days of his life left. The story develops into a surprisingly tragic conclusion, one in which the reader is jolted by the catastr

About the Author

Approximately 64 years ago the author's father operated a grocery store in Philadelphia putting in long, arduous hours. The crowning glory of each day occurred when the store closed and the father would gather the family around him and relate events and tribulations of the family migration from Romania. These tales sparked a burning thirst to set them to paper lest they be lost for all time. The novel was begun in 1952 in Taegu,Korea and after a half century of adding a chapter here and eliminating a paragraph there the author's dream has finally come to fruition.