The Pawnbroker

The Pawnbroker (1961) is a novel by Edward Lewis Wallant which tells the story of Sol Nazerman, a concentration camp survivor who suffers flashbacks of his past Nazi imprisonment as he tries to cope with his daily life operating a pawn shop in East Harlem.

Nazerman is plagued by nightmares and headaches stemming from the physical and mental trauma of his wartime experiences, in which his wife was forced into prostitution and his son drowned in the excrement of a cattle car on the way to the concentration camp.

The major characters include Sol's Latino assistant, Jesus Ortiz, and a recently arrived social worker, Marilyn Birchfield.

There are numerous minor characters who are local Harlem residents, some of whom treat Sol with affection and receive only indifference in return.

The climax of the story occurs on the anniversary of Sol's family's death and forces him to confront his own emotions, including his guilt over having survived and his desire to die.