The Family Frying Pan

Last updated
First (1997) edition
(publ Heinemann Australia) TheFamilyFryingPan.jpg
First (1997) edition
(publ Heinemann Australia)

The Family Frying Pan is a fixup novel written by Bryce Courtenay. It was first published in 1997, then re-written and reissued in 2001.

Contents

Background to the novel

The novel was originally published as a series of semi-linked short stories. It received various changes and a back story and was re-published as such.

The author claims that the main character is heavily based on his first wife's grandmother.

Plot

Set initially in Tsarist Russia, the novel tells of Sara Moses, always known as 'Mrs Moses'. She is a sixteen-year-old servant girl who is the sole survivor of a pogrom in her shtetl. She manages to escape and is able to bring with her only a heavy frying pan found in the ruins of the Rabbi's house.

She travels across Russia, hoping to find freedom and safety, utilising the pan to cook what food she is able to find. As she travels, she is joined by various fellow-escapees from Russia. Every night, around the cooking fire, each traveller tells a tale from his or her life.

Mrs Moses eventually finds sanctuary in Australia and marries a fellow (non-Jewish) Russian refugee. Their great-granddaughter, the narrator, continues to cook fish every Friday evening for shabbat dinner, using the frying pan, which is possessed of a Russian Soul.

See also

Chaucer Canterbury Tales

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sleeping Beauty</span> European fairy tale

"Sleeping Beauty", also titled in English as The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods, is a fairy tale about a princess cursed by an evil fairy to sleep for a hundred years before being awakened by a handsome prince. A good fairy, knowing the princess would be frightened if alone when she wakes, uses her wand to put every living person and animal in the palace and forest asleep, to awaken when the princess does.

<i>Cards on the Table</i> 1936 Poirot novel by Agatha Christie

Cards on the Table is a detective fiction novel by the English author Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 2 November 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryce Courtenay</span> South African–Australian writer

Arthur Bryce Courtenay, was a South African-Australian advertising director and novelist. He is one of Australia's best-selling authors, notable for his book The Power of One.

<i>The Borrowers</i> 1952 childrens novel by Mary Norton

The Borrowers is a children's fantasy novel by the English author Mary Norton, published by Dent in 1952. It features a family of tiny people who live secretly in the walls and floors of an English house and "borrow" from the big people in order to survive. The Borrowers also refers to the series of five novels including The Borrowers and four sequels that feature the same family after they leave "their" house.

<i>The Power of One</i> (novel) 1989 novel by Bryce Courtenay

The Power of One is a novel by South African born, Australian author Bryce Courtenay, first published in 1989. Set in South Africa during the 1930s and 1940s, it tells the story of an English boy, who through the course of the story, acquires the name of Peekay. In the film version, the protagonist's given name is Peter Phillip Kenneth Keith. The author identifies "Peekay" as a reference to his earlier nickname "Piskop": Afrikaans for "Pisshead.")

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Canterville Ghost</span> 1887 short story by Oscar Wilde

"The Canterville Ghost" is a humorous short story by Oscar Wilde. It was the first of Wilde's stories to be published, appearing in two parts in The Court and Society Review, 23 February and 2 March 1887. The story is about an American family who moved to a castle haunted by the ghost of a dead English nobleman, who killed his wife and was then walled in and starved to death by his wife's brothers. It has been adapted for the stage and screen several times.

<i>Tandia</i> 1991 novel by Bryce Courtenay

Tandia is Bryce Courtenay's 1991 sequel to his own best-selling novel The Power of One. It follows the story of a young woman, Tandia, who was brutally raped and then banished from her own home. Tandia later meets up with Peekay, the protagonist from The Power of One and their stories continue on together.

<i>Murder in Mesopotamia</i> 1936 Poirot novel by Agatha Christie

Murder in Mesopotamia is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 6 July 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00. The cover was designed by Robin McCartney.

<i>The Body of Jonah Boyd</i> 2004 novel by David Leavitt

The Body of Jonah Boyd is a novel by David Leavitt, published in 2004, that depicts various consequences of the theft of a manuscript. It tells a story about the life of a common American family dealing with ethical principles, relationships and fairness today. The story is perceived through the eyes of Denny, the secretary and mistress of university professor Ernest Wright, who increasingly exerts influence on the life of the Wright family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Four Fires</span>

Four Fires is a novel written by Bryce Courtenay. It was first published in 2001.

<i>number9dream</i> Book by David Mitchell

number9dream is the second novel by English author David Mitchell. Set in Japan, the 2001 novel narrates 19-year-old Eiji Miyake's search for his father, whom he has never met. Told in the first person by Eiji, it is a coming of age and perception story that breaks convention by juxtaposing Eiji Miyake's actual journey toward identity and understanding with his imaginative journey. The novel employs eclectic narrations in each chapter.

<i>The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse</i> Childrens book by Beatrix Potter

The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse is a book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter and first published by Frederick Warne & Co. in 1910. The book tells the story of a wood mouse named Mrs. Thomasina Tittlemouse and her efforts to keep her house in order, despite the appearance of uninvited visitors. A particularly annoying visitor for Mrs Tittlemouse is Mr. Jackson, a sloppy toad.

<i>The Penderwicks</i> 2005 childrens novel by Jeanne Birdsall

The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy is a children's novel by Jeanne Birdsall, published by Knopf in 2005. This was Birdsall's first book published and it inaugurated the Penderwicks series, whose fifth and final volume was published in 2018. Both The Penderwicks and its sequel The Penderwicks on Gardam Street were New York Times Best Sellers. The remaining books in the series are The Penderwicks at Point Mouette, The Penderwicks in Spring, and The Penderwicks at Last.

<i>Spiders Web</i> (play) 1954 play by Agatha Christie

Spider's Web is a play by crime writer Agatha Christie. Spider's Web, which premiered in London’s West End in 1954, is Agatha Christie's second most successful play, having run longer than Witness for the Prosecution, which premiered in 1953. It is surpassed only by Christie's record-breaking The Mousetrap, which has run continuously since opening in the West End in 1952.

<i>Peter and the Sword of Mercy</i>

Peter and the Sword of Mercy is a children's novel that was published by Hyperion Books, a subsidiary of Disney, in 2009. Written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, the book is an unauthorized reimagining of characters and situations from Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by J. M. Barrie, and tells the story of an orphan named Peter. It was illustrated by artist Greg Call. It is a sequel and fourth installment to Barry and Pearson's "Starcatchers" series, best-sellers released in 2004–2007, which was originally said at the time to be a trilogy. This book was released on October 13, 2009. The next book, called The Bridge to Never Land, was published in 2011.

Antonina Riasanovsky was a Russian Empire-born writer who, under the pen name Nina Fedorova, wrote The Family, the tenth highest selling fiction book in the United States 1940. The book won the 1940 $10,000 fiction novel prize from the Atlantic Monthly. The Family tells the story of an exiled White Russian family in Tianjin, China.

Sítio do Picapau Amarelo is a series of 23 fantasy novels written by Brazilian author Monteiro Lobato between 1920 and 1940. The series is considered representative of Brazilian children's literature and as the Brazilian equivalent to children's classics such as C. S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia and L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz series. Lobato's single original adult fiction, a sci-fi novel entitled O Presidente Negro set in the far future, would not achieve the same popularity of Sítio. The concept was introduced in Monteiro Lobato's 1920 novel A Menina do Narizinho Arrebitado, and was later republished as the first chapter of Reinações de Narizinho, which is the first novel of the actual Sítio series. The main setting is Sítio do Picapau Amarelo, where a boy, a girl and their living and thinking toys enjoy exploring adventures in fantasy, discovery and learning. On several occasions, they leave the ranch to explore other worlds such as Neverland, the mythological Ancient Greece, an underwater world known as the Clear Waters Kingdom, and outer space. Sítio is often symbolized by the character of Emília, Lobato's most famous creation alongside Jeca Tatu.

<i>Australian Legendary Tales</i>

Australian Legendary Tales is a translated collection of stories told to K. Langloh Parker by Australian Aboriginal people.

<i>Flight to Forever</i> 1950 novella by Poul Anderson

Flight to Forever is a science fiction novella by American writer Poul Anderson, first published in serial form in Super Science Stories in November 1950, and then published again in paperback in 1955. This is one of many science fiction works written during the 1950s that involved time travel.