A VASE FOR A FLOWER, Tales Of An Antique Dealer, Denny Pinkus, St. Martin’s Press, 217 pages, $16.95.

“A Vase for a Flower” is a winter charmer. It is as enticing as a glowing fireplace on a stormy day. One can read each of these stories in sequence or dip and pick as one would a box of chocolates, they are that appealing. All of them are linked only in that sense that they offer profiles or adventures of the customers who patronize this particular antique dealer.

This shop is not, however, that of just any antique dealer. Its location is in a city-fabled for its historicity: The old city Jaffa, Tel Aviv. The centuries involved with these artifacts make our wares look like kindergarteners. This sense of the ages contributes to the mood and folk wisdom which pervades the graceful writing.

The tales, however, are for the most part, concerned with the motives and needs of the customers involved. Sometimes heavy with nostalgia, some rife with humor and a few obvious in their avarice; all of them are related with a warmth and emotional richness in the tradition of Sholom Aleichem. This is a difficult achievement in a novel. It is doubly so within the confines of a short story.

The individuals also spring to life: from the woman who simply wants a vase for a flower to a man who is searching for a specific medallion he feels is charmed. Nor do you want to miss the heirs who hope to gain a pretty penny by selling family heirlooms. All facets of personality and human nature cross the threshold of this shop.

Actually author Denny Pinkus knows whereof he writes. His family, refugees from wartime Germany, emigrated to Israel in 1960, where he is now a well-known antique dealer. His shop is located at the site whereof he writes which is the reason for the color and sense of authenticity which is evident on every page.

In spite of the poignancy of these stories they are not heavy in the reading. It is a wonderful bedside book, different from the usual fare.

Marion Flood French is a free-lance writer who resides in Bangor.