Once in Golders Green

An insomniac who realises that he cannot escape his heritage. An elderly emigre who still keeps a suitcase by the door. A clockmaker who obsesses over fixing his past. A Jewish community in London trying to find a place for tradition and ceremony in modern life. Rohan Kriwaczeks collection of short stories is engaging, touching and thought-provoking. He deftly addresses the nature of identity and asks what it means to be Jewish or, indeed, to be defined by religion at all in modern Britain.