The Promise * Chaim Potok * Reuven Malter #2

Picking up years after The Chosen, this deeply moving sequel follows childhood friends Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders into young adulthood in 1950s Brooklyn as they navigate rabbinical studies, clinical psychology, and a shared effort to heal a troubled teenager.

Written by acclaimed American novelist and rabbi Chaim Potok, this continues the beloved story of two remarkable young men finding their own paths in post-World War II New York. Now in their twenties, Reuven is studying to become a Modern Orthodox rabbi while clashing with strict traditionalist teachers over his modern methods of Talmudic scholarship. Meanwhile, Danny has turned away from inheriting his father's Hasidic dynasty to pursue a doctorate in clinical psychology. When Reuven's concern for Michael Gordon, the deeply troubled teenage son of a controversial secular scholar, brings the two old friends together again, Danny attempts an unconventional, intensive therapy to reach the boy while Reuven faces the ultimate test of his own convictions.

Perfect For. Book clubs, literature students, and readers drawn to heartfelt, character-driven stories about friendship, faith, and intellectual courage alongside Chaim Potok's The Chosen, In the Beginning, and My Name Is Asher Lev, Bernard Malamud's The Fixer, or Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus.

First published 1969; this edition 1981 by Fawcett.

Fiction / Classics / 20th-Century American Literature / Jewish Fiction & Culture / Postwar Brooklyn Fiction / Friendship & Coming-of-Age Sagas / Faith & Psychology Narratives