Eshkol Nevo's debut novel takes place just before the assassination of Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin, in a parched hilltop village between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The narrative focuses on the relationship between Noa, a student of photography and Amir, a psychology student, but branches out to include the voices of neighbours - Jews, Arabs and Kurds.
Nearly everyone is torn between the desire to leave and to stay. Nevo's playful and painful account, delicately translated by Sondra Silverston, conjures the realities of life in a war zone, but puts the personal before the political every time.
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