A Theft

By Saul Bellow

Categories: Literature & Fiction

Saul Bellow's 1989 novella follows Clara Velde, a successful New York fashion editor in her forties, married for the fourth time. Her most prized possession is an emerald ring given to her years ago by Ithiel Regler, the man she has always loved. When the ring disappears, its loss leads her to question her marriage, her family and the people she trusts.

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• Barack Obama: “Some of the great books by Jewish authors like Philip Roth or Saul Bellow, they are steeped with this sense of being an outsider, longing to get in, not sure what you're giving up — what you're willing to give up and what you're not willing to give up.”