Summary
Rosie Mendelsohn exists as a vibrant focal point within the sepia-toned claustrophobia of New York’s East Side ghetto, a landscape defined by the rhythmic snip of her father’s tailoring shears and the heavy weight of ancestral tradition. Her burgeoning romance with George Howard, a penurious wordsmith, is abruptly severed by the patriarchal edict of her father, whose world-view is bifurcated by the rigid line between the faithful and the gentile. Following George’s forced exodus from her immediate reality, Rosie orchestrates a sophisticated subterfuge, infiltrating the upper echelons of the publishing world as a secretary to the predatory Joseph Rayberg. She manipulates Rayberg into launching a literary competition centered on an 'anonymous' manuscript—in truth, the humorous fragments of George’s autobiographical novel. The narrative tension escalates into a Faustian bargain where Rayberg, blinded by carnal ambition, demands a price of flesh for the publication of the work. The climax unfolds in a locked office, a crucible of impending violation that transforms into a triumphant escape, eventually reconciling the disparate worlds of the Jewish enclave and the secular city through the redemptive power of shared storytelling and paternal forgiveness.
Synopsis
Rosie Mendelsohn, the daughter of a kindly Jewish tailor in New York City's East Side ghetto, ends her romance with struggling author George Howard at the behest of her father, who prohibits her marriage to a gentile. George disappears from her life, and Rosie attempts to find him by becoming a private secretary to publisher Joseph Rayberg. She persuades Rayberg to host a contest in which authors submit endings to an unfinished manuscript she claims to have discovered. Rayberg, intent on seducing Rosie, agrees to publish the manuscript only after Rosie promises to have sex him when the contest is over. In reality, the manuscript is a portion of George's novel, a humorous story based on Rosie's life. After receiving George's ending to the story, Rayberg locks Rosie in his office, but she escapes into George's arms. Her father relents and blesses their union.
