From a Sealed Room

There is one window partially open across the room. A strip of tape hangs from the frame, as if someone had started to peel it away but become absentminded. The other window is sealed on all sidesand I wonder why they haven't bothered to unseal the windows. It's as if they never really left this room, as if someone still lives here, secretive and quiet, awaiting the next war. As if once the windows have been sealed, you never really leave. Both humorous and redemptive, From a Sealed Room explores the lives of three women trapped within the walls of war, the memory of unbearable pasts and the sense of unlivable presents. Tami approaches crisis with her son, Dov, against the backdrop of their sealed room--the room in which the family slept during the Iraqi Scud attacks. Maya is an American student caught in a physically abusive relationship with an Israeli man. Shifra is isolated in her apartment, alone with her memories of pre World War II Poland and her apocalyptic visions. Their painful and graceful stories intertwine as the women begin to break free of their circumstances, their sealed rooms. Ultimately, each character must make her own choice whether to risk unsealing a window or door, or even stepping outside into uncertain daylight.


Genre: Literary Fiction