For our holiday issue this year, we have a special treat: “No Flies, No Folly” by Josh Weil. Josh is probably best known for his book The New Valley, which links together three exquistiely told novellas and inspired the National Book Foundation to choose him for their “5 under 35″ list in 2009. In “No Flies, No Folly,” Josh Weil turns to the short story, and what a story he tells. Set in Pennsylania Dutch country, the narrative opens with Yankel, a Russian-Jewish immigrant peddler, who carries his wares and his troubled past across his shoulders. He visits the Amish farm of the Hartzler family, and when Mrs. Hartzler secretly asks him to bring an electric light on his next visit, their relationship takes an unexpected turn. Around the One Story office, where we pride ourselves on creating quick mash-ups to describe the different issues of our magazine, we’ve been calling this story “Fiddler on the Roof meets Witness.” But that hardly does it justice, because it is the language of the piece, the beauty of Josh Weil’s prose that distills all the elements of religious tradition, history, immigration, family, loss, progress and industrialization into a love story that is truly illuminating. I hope everyone enjoys “No Flies, No Folly” as much as I did–it’s the perfect story to read on a cold winter’s night over the holidays. Be sure to also read the author’s Q&A with us to find out more about Josh Weil and the inspiration behind “No Flies, No Folly.”