Born into a Jewish family in Botoșani, his parents were Avram Moise Erick and his wife Frieda Ruhla (née Segal).
He also wrote for Azi, Lumea, Viața Românească, Revista Fundațiilor Regale and Gazeta literară, early on using the pen name Aron Ciuntu.
Two further story collections followed: Oamenii visează pâine (1945) and Vițelul de aur (1949), as well as the novels Rădăcinile bucuriei (1954) and Podul amintirilor (1963).
Șerbu's early prose was analytical; after 1945 and the country's turn toward socialist realism, he adopted social and ethical themes.
Despite rewriting texts subjected to various pressures, Șerbu did not manage to produce an artistically fulfilled body of work.