Rabbi's Book a Labor of Love

This is one of those stories in which a group of publishing insiders combine to create a book that proceeds smoothly from day one. It begins with Hyperion president Bob Miller introducing a rabbi, Irwin Kula, head of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, to agent David Black to explore the possibility of him writing a book. Black was duly impressed with Kula and his possibilities, but equally convinced he needed a collaborator. He thought of Linda Loewenthal, former chief of Three Rivers Press at Crown, and then director of the One Spirit Book Club. Although she had never written a book, she too was keen on the book's potential and happily began working with Kula. A year later the proposal was finished, Linda had joined Black's agency, and, as was only fair, the project was offered first to Miller. It took only a few days, said Black, for the whole company to line up behind what they call Yearnings: A Book of Humble Absolutes, and Miller took North American rights, for publication late next year. The book is designed to offer comfort to people worried by life's many uncertainties, and all involved have high hopes for it.