A presentation of the book "Time of failed hopes" by Ilya Rozenfeld took place in a Poltava Jewish community library within the frames of Jewish culture Days. The Kharkov publishing house "Karavella" issued it. It is not the first meeting with the author - a former Poltava resident. In 1999 readers saw his first book "Stories and novels" and have impatiently been waiting for new meetings with a beloved writer.

What is the secret of author's success? I would like to cite some quotations from readers' speeches at the book presentation.

"The author - is a subtle psychologist... If a young generation, as Igor in a "Name day in village" play, understands that the Fate... does not forgive the deals with conscience, that requital for mistakes is many-sided but inevitable, that laws of honesty, kindness, decency should always be undeviatingly observed, only then we will be able to breathe freely: well, our hard, lean of true but not ersatz happiness life has passed not in vain" (L.Boldovskaya).

"The veracity of descriptions - events and facts - stirs up anxiety, makes recall episodes of post-war days... The author strikes with his knowledge of life, characters and deeds of various generations, acuity and verity of writing..." (V.Zhuravleva).

"This is a fast-reading book. The language - accurate and colorful... I adore the author, who, possessing a great gift of writing, continued to be busy with a real masculine work - designing and constructing bridges..." (L.Izmaylova).

Yes, I.Rozenfeld is not a professional literati, but the acuity and non-ordinary depicting of mental and ethical problems, "ease of writing", artistic taste do not allow even recalling this.

One more thing. Almost all I.Rozenfeld's works concern Jewish theme. But the author is a convinced internationalist and clearly shows the human moral features do not depend on his nationality.

Let's wish to the author further creative achievements to please us more and more.