On the Brink of the Precipice, the first volume of the trilogy The Tree of Life, describes the lives of the novel's ten protagonists in the Lodz Ghetto before the outbreak of World War II. Chava Rosenfarb, herself a survivor of the Lodz Ghetto, Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen, draws on her own history to create realistic characters who struggle daily to retain a sense of humanity and dignity despite the physical and psychological effects of ghetto life. Although the novel depicts horrendous experiences, the light of faith in the human spirit shines through this novel's every page.

Winner of the 1972 J. J. Segal Prize and the 1979 Manger Prize for Yiddish Literature