One of the most touching novels of modern world literature: a discovery! Poor in money but rich in children, the milkman Tevye dreams of a life without need and suffering. However, after an unexpected windfall, the tide turns, and our hero must witness the loss of his family and homeland. He is left all alone in the world, with nothing but his faith in God and his unshakeable Jewish humor. He counters all the hardships of existence with a humane, mischievous resilience, the resilience of a true humorist who still laughs and jokes through tears. With his masterpiece, Sholem Aleichem established his reputation as one of the greatest humorists in world literature and created a monument to the vanished milieu of the shtetl. It is not a nostalgic glorification or a beautified idyll, but a touching tragicomic perspective on catastrophe.