rebbe: A spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement of Judaism.
schlemiel: An inept or clumsy person.
schlep: To carry or drag.
schmaltz: Rendered poultry fat.
schmo: A jerk or obnoxious person.
schmutz: Dirt or grime.
seder: A ritual feast eaten on the first night or the first two nights of Pesach that mark the beginning of the Jewish holiday.
Shabbos: Also known as Shabbat or the Sabbath, this is the Jewish day of rest beginning on Friday at sundown and lasting until Saturday at sundown.
Shacharis: The morning prayer of Judaism; one of three daily prayers.
shadchante: A professional matchmaker, typically female.
shanda: Something scandalously shameful.
shashka: A sharp, single-edged curved sword; in 1834 it became the official sword of the imperial Russian army.
shechita: The slaughtering of certain mammals and birds for food in accordance with the Jewish dietary laws of kashrut.
Shema: A Jewish prayer recited daily, at both morning and evening services.
shemira: The act of guarding the dead.
shiva: A seven-day mourning period following the death of an immediate family member, commonly used in reference to “sitting shiva.”
shmoyger: A worthless person or someone who is a good-for-nothing.
shochet: A person officially certified to perform animal slaughter, in reference to the shechita process.
shomer: Someone who watches over the dead.
shtetl: A small Jewish town or village historically found in Eastern Europe.
shtik drek: Slang for piece of shit.
shtreimel: The fur hat worn by married Hasidic men on Shabbos and other Jewish holidays.
shtuss: Nonsense.
shul: A Jewish synagogue or temple.
tachrichim: Traditional simple white burial shrouds, usually made from linen.
tahara: One of the most important elements of a proper Jewish burial, this is the ritual purification ceremony for the dead performed by members of the chevra kadisha.
tallis: A fringed garment with tzitzis on each of its four corners, traditionally worn as a prayer shawl by religious Jews.
Talmud: A comprehensive collection of texts and subsequent commentaries that is the primary source of Jewish religious law and Jewish theology; originates from the second century CE.
tefillin: Small leather boxes worn on the head and arms by religious Jews during morning prayers.
Tehillim: The Hebrew name for the book of Psalms, which is the third section of the Hebrew Bible.
teshuvah: Literally translated as “return,” it means repentance and atonement.
tichel: A headscarf.
tzaddik: A holy or righteous man.
tzitzis: Refers to the knotted fringes on Jewish religious garments. Colloquially, tzitzis can also refer to the tallit katan, the fringed garment that some religious Jews wear under their shirts.
vey iz mir: An abbreviation of the Yiddish expression “oy ve iz mir,” meaning “woe is me.”
yarmulke: A skullcap; also known as a kippah.
yeshiva: A seminary or school where Jews study religious texts.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
So much work goes on behind the scenes to create a novel. It is a group effort and requires time and devotion from multiple people. Without the help and support of the people listed below, this book would likely still be a four-hundred-page paperweight in a drawer somewhere.
First of all, I want to thank my agent, Thao Le. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work with her. Thao has supported me every step of the way, and her faith in me as an author has made me approach my writing with even more confidence and drive.
Next, I want to thank my editor, Rebecca Kuss, whose invaluable insight helped me find and draw out the heart of this story. Under her guidance, The City Beautiful has become so much stronger. I can’t begin to express how thrilled I am to have been able to work on this novel with Rebecca, and I look forward to working with her on more projects to come.
Additionally, I want to thank everyone at Inkyard Press who helped make this novel a reality, including the art department and the publicity and marketing teams.
I would also like to express my gratitude to Will Cordeiro at Northern Arizona University, who read the manuscript in its earliest form as part of my honors independent study. Will’s feedback and advice gave me the motivation to complete this novel and encouraged me to really examine the story I was trying to tell.
I am grateful to have such a wonderful writing circle. A special thanks goes out to my critique partners: Brenda Marie Smith, Laura Creedle, Cassandra Farrin, Alexandra Gill, Sonya Doernberg, Jessica Russak-Hoffman, and Diamond Wortham. I would also like to thank my friend Paxton Gyves for talking me down from my moments of writer’s block and imposter syndrome and for raving with me about Victorian aesthetics.
ISBN-13: 9780369702821
The City Beautiful
Copyright © 2021 by Aden Polydoros
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
For questions and comments about the quality of this book, please contact us at [email protected].
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