Wayne Hoffman, gay author and bear extraordinaire, will be reading from his new novel, "Sweet Like Sugar" on Sunday, September 18 · 2:00pm - 3:00pm at Barnes and Noble, 4801 Bethesda Ave., Bethesda, MD.

In Yiddish, there is a word for it: bashert--the person you are fated to meet. Twenty-something Benji Steiner is skeptical of the concept. But the elderly rabbi who stumbles into Benji's office one day has no doubts. Rabbi Jacob Zuckerman's late wife, Sophie, was his bashert. And now that she is gone, he grapples with grief and loneliness.

Touched by the rabbi's plight, Benji becomes his helper--driving him home after work, sitting in his living room listening to stories. Their friendship baffles everyone, especially Benji's sharp-tongued, modestly observant mother, but Benji is rediscovering something he didn't know he'd lost.

The test of their friendship, and their faith, lies in the difficult truths they come to share. With each revelation, Benji learns what it means not just to be Jewish but to be fully human--imperfect, striving, and searching for acceptance.