The Prince of West End Avenue

Alan Isler was born in England in 1934, emigrating to the US at the age of 18. After serving in the US army he went on to study literature at Columbia University, and taught for much of his adult life. Isler was the author of several novels including Kraven Images, The Bacon Fancier, Clerical Errors, The Living Proof and The Prince of West End Avenue, which won the National Jewish Book Award in 1994. Isler died in 2010. .

Winner of the National Jewish Book Award and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. A youthful tale of geriatric amateur theatrics and one of the most powerful and affecting comedies of modern times. In the Emma Lazarus retirement home in uptown Manhattan, the Jewish inmates embark on a chaotic, bitchy production of Hamlet. But for our hero, Otto Korner more is at stake than simply directing his quirky, libidinous fellow residents in the play. Somebody knows Otto's secret, and as comedy and tragedy combine he is transported back to his pre-American past in Germany, Zurich, and finally, Auschwitz. Winner of the National Jewish Book Award and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Prince of West End Avenue was a critical sensation on its first publication in 1994. A youthful tale of geriatric amateur theatrics, its dramatic curtain call ensures this is one of the most powerful and affecting comedies of modern times.