A young woman's coming of age, a romantic love story, and a spiritual journey; each infused with the lessons of history.In the Image is an extraordinary first novel illuminated by spiritual exploration, one that remembers "a language, a literature, a held hand, an entire world lived and breathed in the image of God." Bill Landsmann, an elderly Jewish refugee in a New Jersey suburb with a passion for travel, is obsessed with building his slide collection of images from the Bible that he finds scattered throughout the world. The novel begins when he crosses paths with his granddaughter's friend, Leora, and continues by moving forward through her life and backward through his, revealing the unexpected links between his family's past and her family's future. Not just a first novel but a cultural event; a wedding of secular and religious forms of literature; In the Image neither lives in the past nor seeks to escape it, but rather assimilates it, in the best sense of the word, honoring what is lost and finding, among the lost things, the treasures that can renew the present. Reading group guide included. Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly In an enchanting, introspective and emotionally charged debut, Horn travels back and forth through time and space offering snapshots of the intertwining lives of Vienna native William Landsmann and his late granddaughter's best friend, Leora. Following the hit-and-run accident that killed his granddaughter Naomi in the suburbs of New Jersey, the depressed Landsmann tries to forge a friendship with high school student Leora by showing her slides from his travels, image after endless image. As Leora matures and slowly heals from the loss, she meets and falls in love with Jason, a college jock who has his heart set on caring for the elderly until he undergoes a religious transformation. Things end badly with Jason, but a few years later, Leora meets introspective Jake, at a lecture on Spinoza in Amsterdam. Jake, to Leora's fascination, "could have been born in any era, in any place in the world, and would probably have turned out more or less the same." Tossed into the mix are flashbacks from Landsmann's childhood and stories of his grandmother Leah, who flings her father's tefillin into New York Harbor at the tragic end of a love affair. Horn examines the religious and secular choices of each character, questioning the true nature of Judaism and of faith in general without being preachy or overly judgmental. An occasional stiffness in the narration is overcome by the warmth of her appreciation of Jewish culture and heritage, and she makes eloquent use of recurring motifs-modeling clay, photographs, miniature dollhouses and deep sea diving among them-as she captures life in early 20th-century Europe and contemporary New York. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Horn, a journalist and a scholar, debuts with a story that is partly about the Jewish immigrant experience and partly about people seeking love, commitment, and fulfillment, at times within a religious and cultural context. The book opens with the sudden death of a teenage girl, which brings together for a short time the girl's grandparents, Bill and Anna Landesmann, and her best friend, Leora. These lives eventually diverge, with passages alternating between the grandfather's European beginnings and Leora's quest for meaning as a young adult. Horn effectively draws the reader into the losses and desperation felt by these American Jewish immigrants while also portraying them as strong and hopeful people who believe that here is better than there. With Leora in particular, the author has created a woman of depth and complexity whose emotions and reactions often resonate with accuracy. Even those characters embodying the worst of human nature are compelling. Strongly recommended for larger fiction collections. Maureen Neville, Trenton P.L., NJ Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.