SPRING 2013 CATALOGUE - the Deborah Harris Agency

SPRING 2013 CATALOGUE

SPRING 2013 CATALOGUE
Table of Contents:
NONFICTION
Yuval Noah Harari / FROM ANIMALS INTO GODS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
Lily Galily and Roman Bronfman / THE MILLION THAT CHANGED THE MIDDLE EAST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
POETRY
Yehuda Amichai / SELECTED POETRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
FICTION
Meir Shalev / TWO SHE-BEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7
Ofir Touché Gafla / THE WORLD OF THE END . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Ronit Matalon and Ariel Hirschfeld / UNDUE INFLUENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Yirmi Pinkus / PETTY BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Hila Blum / THE VISIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Roni Dunevich / FROM DEEP WITHIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Hagar Yanai / THE WHALE OF BABYLON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Anat Talshir / IF I FORGET THEE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Recent Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Sub-Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

NONFICTION
SPRING 2013
#1 Bestseller
since May 2011
Yuval Harari
have
been
Scientists
fossilized
for
and mountains of America,
combing
bones
looking
balls of giant ground sloths
of
ancient
camels
the
and
dried
dung
up
plains
FROM ANIMALS INTO GODS:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND
Germany: DVA
The Netherlands: Bezige Bij (Thomas Rap)
Israel: Kinneret
400 pages
A history of humankind told from a unique perspective, FROM ANIMALS INTO GODS has been the number
one bestseller in Israel since publication in May 2011 and has sold more than 100,000 copies to date. Broad in
scope but also minutely particular, this beautifully-written book is informative, stimulating, witty, troubling and
provocative. Yuval Harari surveys human history from the evolution of various human species to the political
and technological revolutions of the twenty-first century. All along the way, and in the most engaging ways, he
challenges the reader to reconsider basic narratives and to connect past developments with present concerns.
This is a brilliant, accessible and highly original book of big ideas that speaks to an extraordinarily wide audience.
One hundred thousand years ago, Homo sapiens was still an insignificant animal minding its own business in
a corner of Africa, sharing the planet with at least five other human species and with a role in the ecosystem
no greater than that of fireflies, gorillas or jellyfish. Then, about 70,000 years ago, a mysterious and profound
change in the cognitive abilities of Homo sapiens transformed it into the master of the planet and the scourge of
the ecosystem.
How did Homo sapiens manage to drive all other human species to extinction, along with about half of the
world’s large terrestrial mammals? When did money and religion appear, and why? How did empires rise and
fall, and how is it possible for small minorities to dominate vast populations? Why have nearly all societies
considered women inferior to men? Why did monotheism become the most widespread type of religion?
How did science and capitalism become the preeminent creeds of the modern era? Does history have a
direction? Did people become happier as history progressed? And what are the chances that Homo sapiens will
still be around in a hundred years?
2

FROM ANIMALS INTO GODS does not just tell what happened in the past. It also finds the deep meaning and
moral and existential implications of events. The book gives attention both to Christopher Columbus and to
the first settlers of Australia 45,000 years ago, to the Industrial Revolution of the last two centuries and to the
Agricultural Revolution that began around 10,000 BCE. Yuval Harari puts the history of humankind into a larger
ecological context and considers the fortunes and perspectives of animals and plants.
Drawing on insights from paleontology, anthropology and sociology, FROM ANIMALS INTO GODS looks not
only at the macro-processes of history but also how these developments influenced the daily lives of individuals.
It tries to explain not just “what happened?” and “why it happened?” but also “how did it feel?” and “did it
make individuals happier or more miserable?” The book argues that without engaging with these questions,
we miss the most important and most interesting parts of history.
“From Animals into Gods is a multidisciplinary feast of history, biology, psychology, economics, agriculture
and science… Harari's biggest virtue as an historic narrator is his wonderful ability to simplify, extract, deepen and
illuminate every topic and event, and the outcome is a history book with sex appeal.“ Iri Rikin, Ha'aretz
“The most interesting, unsettling and important book to come out in this past year… Harari's book is not only
remarkably fascinating, it also profoundly affects the reader´s consciousness for a long time, it and puts many
significant human phenomena within a simple and accurate framework… From Animals into Gods is not only a bag
of goodies filled with surprising information and wide-scope insights, but also a true guide to examination of human
values, collective as well as individual…“ Masha Zur-Glozman, Ha'aretz
DR. YUVAL NOAH HARARI received his Ph.D in History from the University of Oxford in 2002 and lectures at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. For the past decade he has been teaching Israelis, Palestinians, foreign students,
Jews, Christians, Muslims and atheists, encouraging them to question basic assumptions about our world.
Dr. Harari is currently filming a program in English, based on his book, for the online university Coursera.
More than 17,000 people from around the world have already signed up for it, and it is due to go online in June.
https://www.coursera.org/course/humankind
Dr. Harari was awarded the 2012 Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality in the Humanistic Disciplines.
Scientists
dung
balls of giant ground sloths
and mountains of America,
looking
up
plains
dried
and
camels
for
fossilized
have
the
ancient
of
bones
combing
been
3

NONFICTION
SPRING 2013
But this is a
complex
story,
y like the entire
narrative of immigration
to the Promised Land,
Lily Galili
and Roman Bronfman
THE MILLION THAT CHANGED
THE MIDDLE EAST
Russian Immigration to Israel
Israel: Matar 2013
282 pages
which promises too much and fulfills much less.
A significant group of people remain on the margins.
The huge influx of Russian Jewry to Israel between 1989 and 2012 has had a profound demographic, social and
political effect on the State of Israel. Indeed, fateful decisions on the crucial issues of war and peace, Israel’s security
and its social and political policies were all dramatically influenced by this enormous immigration. The impact has
been felt far beyond Israel’s borders and has changed the whole of the Middle East. Lily Galili and Roman Bronfman
have written the first in-depth history of this extraordinary migration. With a combination of trenchant analysis
and compelling individual stories, THE MILLION THAT CHANGED THE MIDDLE EAST is a revealing and important
exploration of one of the seminal events in modern Israeli history.
“One of its clear-cut objectives is to shatter a few of the persistent myths and stereotypes that have been attached
to this large group of new immigrants. It does so in a professional and balanced manner that does not spare the rod
either from veteran Israeli society or the Russian population... THE MILLION THAT CHANGED THE MIDDLE EAST is
an in-depth and complex historical survey, succinct and readable. It looks from a broad perspective at processes that
took place and are still taking place in a shifting Israeli society.“ Masha Zur Glozman, Ha'aretz
LILY GALILI was a senior writer for the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz during the period of the Russian ingathering.
ROMAN BRONFMAN is a former member of the Knesset who emigrated to Israel from the Ukraine in 1980.
Together, they examine the period from both an internal and external perspective. They also look at the ways in
which the Russian community in Israel will continue to change the face of the country in the years ahead.
4

POETRY
SPRING 2013
Everything is steps at night, r
rr
receding or approaching, but never arriving close enough
Everything is steps at night,
approaching, but never arriving close enough
r
er
ceding or approaching, but never
arriving close enough
Everything i steps at night, receding or
Yehuda Amichai
SELECTED POETRY
Edited by Robert Alter
World English rights: Farrar Straus & Giroux
The definitive volume of Yehuda Amichai’s poetry, including new translations and poems never translated before.
“He is one of our great poets, a very accessible one. Once one has read his poems one can never forget them - there
can be so much life and truth in sixteen lines. Yehuda Amichai is a master.“ Octavio Paz
“One is no longer so aware of the virtuosity of a dazzlingly gifted poet, but of a telling of real things he has lived and
felt, in a poetry that seems the natural speech of people who speak of such things candidly, humorously, generously.
This is something so rare that I, for one, return to these poems again and again, and always find myself shaken.“
Ted Hughes
“Yehuda Amichai, it has been remarked with some justice, is the most widely translated Hebrew poet since King
David.“ Robert Alter
“[T]he shrewdest and most solid of poetic intelligences.“ C.K. Williams
YEHUDA AMICHAI (1924-2000) received many international awards and honors, including The Israel Prize, Malraux
Prize (France), Literary Lion Award (USA), Bjørnson Poetry Award (Norway), and Macedonia’s Golden Wreath
Award. Amichai’s poetry has been translated into forty languages.
5

FICTION
SPRING 2013
Meir Shalev
TWO SHE-BEARS
Photo by Dan Porges
Israel: Am Oved (June 2013)
“And he turned back, and looked at them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two shebears
came out of the wood, and tore apart forty-two of the children.“ Kings II. 2.24
Master storyteller Meir Shalev’s TWO SHE-BEARS is an unconventional literary thriller about two murders – one
committed as an act of vengeance and the second as retribution. Spanning three generations in one family’s life, the
years are filled with love, betrayal, revenge, loss, brutality and salvation. This is the story of men, told by a woman,
Ruta: granddaughter, wife, mother. In each role she is witness to this shocking story.
“I have never avenged a person with a real vengeance. I have never felt that kind
of impulse towards anyone, but the emotion of vengeance and actualizing it has
attracted me and has suffused me with curiosity for many years. And from the
day that I began writing I have been contemplating this possibility. This is the only
privilege authors have, to create for themselves the plot that they would like to
read and even participate in.
Two She Bears is the fruit of this enduring aspiration. It is told through the voice
of a woman, forty-six years old, as she describes the vengeance, the love, the
memory and the passion in her family. Part of the book is based on a true story
that has been kept secret for many years. This story surpasses, to my pity and
to my joy, what I could possibly create myself. It caused me to look at myself
and those close to me in a different way. I’m afraid that this might happen to its
readers as well.“
Meir Shalev
MEIR SHALEV was born in 1948 on Nahalal, Israel's first moshav and is one of Israel's most celebrated novelists.
He is the author of seven novels, two books of biblical study, and almost a dozen books for children. His books have
been translated into over 22 languages and have been bestsellers in Israel, Holland, Germany and Russia. In 1999
the author was awarded the Juliet Club Prize (Italy). Shalev is also the recipient of The Prime Minister's Prize (Israel),
The Chiavari (Italy), The Enthomological Prize (Israel), The National Jewish Book Award (USA), The Wizo Prize in
France, Israel and Italy and The Brenner Prize of 2006, the highest Israeli literary recognition awarded, for A Pigeon
and a Boy and the Pratt Foundation Prize for the support of Environmental Protection. Shalev, a columnist for the
Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot, lives in the Galilee.
6

BLUE MOUNTAIN (Russian Romance)
“A vast, and vastly funny, epic – a deeply felt and moving expression of complex emotions.”
Oscar Hijuelos
“A giddy mixture of zany comedy, folktale, and heroic fantasy… glitters with unexpected juxtapositions and
wild shifts from the practical to the impractical.”
Atlantic Monthly
“The language has a sumptuous, earthy feel, and the text is rich in Yiddish idioms and phrases.”
Times Literary Supplement
“Passionate, ribald and tender.”
Publisher’s Weekly
FOUR MEALS (The Loves of Judith)
“Shalev has that memorable narrative voice which commands attention… and with quiet and implacable
strength is compelling from start to finish.”
La Repubblica
“Dazzling… a narrative of enormous skill, by turns comic and moving … a master class in the storyteller’s art.”
Daily Telegraph
IN HIS HOUSE IN THE DESERT WILDERNESS
“To whoever reads just one book a year I recommend In His House in the Wilderness – it is world literature.
No doubt, Meir Shalev is the greatest living Israeli novelist!”
Die Welt
A PIGEON AND A BOY
“Shalev creates a world that has the richness of invention and the obsessiveness of dreams.“
The New York Times Book Review
“Shalev's novel is an intelligent symphony about home. A brilliant elucidation of questions of identity and
homeland which fuses the Israeli locale with a stroll through universal time and place.“
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
BEGINNINGS
“Shalev is an author of great sophistication whose enthusiasm is contagious. He has an eye for detail, a thirst
for making implied connections implicit and a wonderful habit of fully imagining the potent drama narrated.”
Forward
MY RUSSIAN GRANDMOTHER AND HER AMERICAN VACUUM CLEANER
“Memories of Love with an elegiac view on Israel’s founding generation… This is a loving and humorous
homage of Shalev’s Russian-Ukrainian family.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Option Publishers:
USA: Pantheon/Schocken
Italy: Feltrinelli
Slovakia: Slovart
Spain: Atico de los Libros
Switzerland: Diogenes Verlag
France: Editions Gallimard
Holland: Ambo/Anthos
Czech Republic: Garamond
Poland: Muza
Russia: Text Publishers
Ukraine: Folio
Hungary: Ulpius
Korea: Sigong S
Brazil: Editora Bertrand
7

FICTION
SPRING 2013
Ofir Touché Gafla
THE WORLD
OF THE END
USA: TOR; A Tom Doherty Associates Book (2013)
Israel: Keter
365 pages
Photo by Yanai Yehiel
Written with off-beat humor and extraordinary metaphysical depth, THE WORLD OF THE END tells the story of Ben
Mendelssohn, an epilogist, a man who writes endings for a living. Fifteen months after losing his beloved wife in a
mysterious accident, he commits suicide in order to reunite with her in the world of the dead. However, death turns
out to be a very surprising experience, as Ben arrives in The Other World, a God-less version of the post-mortem
universe, unlike anything he could have imagined, where the deceased from every age live an eternal second life.
As Ben embarks on an adventurous quest for his missing wife, hiring an unconventional afterlife investigator to
track Marian down, evidence mounts that she is actually alive and well in Tel Aviv. Stories of love unfold as the plot
thickens and the reader discovers the startling connection between all the stories in the astonishing jigsaw puzzle
that is THE WORLD OF THE END.
“Stunning writing, hilarious, and brilliantly translated!" Ellen Kushner, World Fantasy Award-winning author of
Thomas the Rhymer
“I've seldom read a book so strange and so assured. Gafla's vivid characters, his matter-of-fact underworld, and
his mysteriously interconnected mortal universe confront readers with the awkwardness, desperation, and humor
of life and its many endings.” Max Gladstone, author of Three Parts Dead
“Although coping with the great philosophical, psychological and existential questions is at the very
core of the book, it doesn’t overshadow the plot... the book is amusing, suspenseful, intriguing and it’s
clear the author enjoyed writing it and successfully blends the ingredients of a good book: language,
characters, narrative. Add to that the shifting between the different genres, which are interwoven
masterfully: science fiction, fantasy, adventure, detective and an entire universe of love stories.”
Tali Goldshmidt, Ha'aretz
“Touché Gafla is a writer rich in imagination and inventiveness, a writer who surprises at the end of each paragraph,
not just at the end of the book. In the case of this witty, clever, funny and exciting book (or in a single wordspectacular),
I conclude with no exaggeration: It’s been ages since I read such an amazing first novel. Do yourselves
a favor and run to the nearest bookstore.” Rana Verbin, Ha’ir
“The World of the End proves Gafla as one of the most imaginative writers to have appeared in Israeli literature...”
Noa Manheim, Yediot Ahronot
OFIR TOUCHÉ GAFLA was born in 1968 and has garnered critical acclaim for all his novels. THE WORLD OF THE
END, his first novel, won The Geffen Award for best sci-fi-fantasy book of the year in 2005 and The Kugel Award
for Hebrew Literature in 2006, and has become a cult novel. The author of four other novels, Touché Gafla has
published many short stories in magazines and anthologies. He teaches creative writing and the Sam Spiegel School
of TV and Film in Jerusalem.
8

FICTION
SPRING 2013
Only when I
the
Ronit Matalon
and Ariel Hirschfeld
UNDUE INFLUENCE
Israel: Keter Publishing/Am Oved
stood like this facing the amazement of myself,
284 pages
Partial English translation by Todd Hasak-Lowy
marriage
speechlessness of my amazement, did I realize what wreckage this marriage left
inside me. Ruins.
Photo by Dan Porges
“I never imagined I would write. …She said ’don't worry, I'll write this thing in the form of a letter, you'll answer,
and we'll see what happens…’“
(from a joint interview in Ha'aretz)
UNDUE INFLUENCE is an epistolary novel born out of a literary correspondence between acclaimed author Ronit
Matalon and essayist and literary scholar Ariel Hirschfeld. The plot of the novel was not set in advance and each
author had to continue the story from the point where the other left off.
However, UNDUE INFLUENCE is an exceptional novel not only in the way it was created but also because it is a deep
and bold literary attempt to capture love as it forms, in words and beyond words.
“Matalon and Hirschfeld have succeeded in a nearly impossible task: writing an absorbing, witty and complex
epistolary novel in the Internet era… The letters depict the process by which lovers project their dreams upon one
another and at the same time try to fulfill their counterpart's dreams… Matalon and Hirschfeld have given birth to
a rich and remarkable epistolary novel.“ Avraham Balaban, Ha'aretz
“This is a game woven into a novel, and beyond the drama and plot – it is also really funny… The literary dialogue
manifests itself in whimsical power games as well. Time and again, Matalon as Lori pulls the rug out from under
Hirschfeld/Nethan'el's feet…“ Maya Sela, Ha'aretz
RONIT MATALON is an author and an essayist. Among her previous books: the novel The One Facing Us (Am
Oved, 1995), the book of essays Read and Write (Hasifria Hachadasha, 2001) and the novel The Sound of Our Steps
(Am Oved, 2008), which was chosen in a survey of Yediot Ahronot to be the best Hebrew book of the previous
decade. Her books are widely translated and unanimously praised.
ARIEL HIRSCHFELD is an author, literary scholar and essayist. Among his previous books: the book of essays Notes
on a Place (Am Oved, 2000), Toward the Last of the Gods: The Fountains of Rome (Keter, 2003) and The Tuned
Harp: The Language of Emotions in H.N. Bialik's Poetry
- (Am Oved, 2011). He is professor of Hebrew Literature
at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
9

FICTION
SPRING 2013
Now in its
8th printing
Photo by Jonathan Blum
Yirmi Pinkus
PETTY BUSINESS
Israel: Am Oved
310 pages
Partial English translation by Evan Fallenberg
“[A] decisive literary victory,
a real celebration... the precise observations of Philip Roth, the grotesque wildness of
Hanoch Levin and the sharp melancholy of Ephraim Kishon...a humorous novel that is motivated by empathy rather
than sarcasm and manages to be both entertaining and deeply moving.“ Omri Herzog, Ha'aretz
Tel Aviv in the late ‘80s, just before the onslaught of mega-stores. The owners of small family shops seek the good
life. But dreams of fast money and luxury overseas vacations collide with reality, leading the novel's protagonists to
a pivotal, bubbly and cruel day at the edge of summer.
This poignant, sensitive and humorous novel by Yirmi Pinkus depicts a bourgeois Tel Aviv family in the last moments
of a dying era. Pinkus fuses together a wild celebration of vitality with an imminent but still unseen demise.
An immediate bestseller, PETTY BUSINESS has been praised by critics and readers alike.
“The first few episodes of Petty Business bring Honoré de Balzac's Ce`sar Birotteau to mind…but Pinkus chooses
wisely not to show its protagonists in their fall… [It] is not the grand novel about the end of Israeli petit bourgeoisie
but a depiction of its last few moments of grace, and it is a wonderful depiction.“ Motti Fogel, Achbar Ha’Ir
“Pinkus nestles in the memories of an ancient tribe, proud and tall, that once ruled the land, but has fallen from
greatness ages ago… And he does it in a rich, lush language…“ Ran Bin-Nun, Yediot Ahronot
YIRMI PINKUS is an award winning author and a prominent Israeli illustrator and comics artist. In addition to
winning the Sapir Prize for his debut novel, Professor Fabrikant’s Historical Cabaret, Pinkus has also received
prestigious awards for his designs, illustrations and artwork. Professor Fabrikant's Historical Cabaret has been
translated into Italian by l’Ancora del Mediterraneo and will soon be published in French by Grasset.
10

FICTION
SPRING 2013
Hila Blum
THE VISIT
Germany: Berlin Verlag
The Netherlands: De Bezige Bij
Israel: Kinneret
400 pages
Partial English translation by Betsy Rosenberg
halt
a
to
before
changing
one
Suddenly
direction
the gears screech
phone
shut,
clanks
their memory machine
call
–
and
Photo by Omer Armoni
At the end of a magical evening in a sumptuous restaurant in Paris, Nati and Nili, Israeli lovers, have a strange and
disturbing encounter with a French millionaire. Nine years later, now married and raising their daughter and Nati’s
child from his first marriage, a phone call from the man they met that night in Paris upsets the fragile balance of
their lives. He is coming to Israel and wants to see them again.
THE VISIT is a high-resolution study of the “new family.“ It is also a glimpse into those cracks in our daily lives
through which we sometimes let slip fateful choices and decisions. Hila Blum tests the strength of the bonds
between family members, reconstituting for us moments of uncertainty that we were too quick to smooth away,
emotions we suppressed too hurriedly and insights that were too late in coming.
The debut novel by a renowned editor of Israeli literature, THE VISIT appeared on the bestseller charts in Israel
almost immediately upon its publication.
“Describing the plot of Hila Blum's debut novel feels a bit like describing the way in which a jazz musician is dressed:
it is an integral part of the artistic experience but such a minor and almost redundant one. The main engine in
Blum's moving and impressive novel are the unique and complex voices she is able to create, voices that describe,
with a very light and confident hand, a heart-shattering and anxiety-filled world in which not so much actually
happens, yet its emotional resonance is not weaker than the one that can be found in many great epic novels…
With a phenomenal control of language and an insightful consciousness that never ceases to challenge and to
ponder, Blum needs no more than her first novel to convince us that a powerful and unique new author has entered
the literary scene. A writer who…masterfully uses her special writing talent to think and, even more importantly, to
make her readers think.“ Etgar Keret
“With smart and compelling prose, Hila Blum’s debut novel The Visit reveals the enigmatic and paradoxical aspects
of a family: luminous and dark, morose and comic. Blum works wonders in describing the high and low tides of life
and the daily observation, she moves between everyday routine and the depths of the soul. Her style is polished,
precise and natural. This is a particularly impressive novel.“ Zeruya Shalev
HILA BLUM was born in Jerusalem in 1969. In her youth she lived for several years in Hawaii and in her twenties
lived in Paris and New York, as well as in Israel. She began her professional career as a journalist, writing feature
articles, profiles, personal columns and book reviews. For the past ten years she has been an editor at Kinneret, one
of Israel’s leading publishing houses, where she works with some of Israel’s most outstanding authors.
11

FICTION
SPRING 2013
The bit of hope he still had collapses like a smashed crystal wall.
Roni Dunevich
The sound of men screaming comes through his headphones.
Then the line goes dead.
Photo by Kopitchinski
FROM DEEP WITHIN
Italy: Mondadori
USA: HarperCollins
Israel: Kinneret
520 pages
"The bustle of the city is muted, and he can already hear the first
heartbeats of the bloody drama echoing in his ears. His own blood
is racing and the rusty netting shakes in his trembling hands."
A Mossad operative is apprehended in Turkey during a mission to dispose of a body: an Iranian general who was
tortured to death under interrogation. Her capture generates a series of crises in Europe and Asia and brings about
the killing, one by one, of the Ring of the Nibelungs, a sleeper cell network of Mossad agents.
Alex Bartal, Head of Operations, is convinced there is a traitor within the Mossad, and he sets out for Berlin on the
hunt. A fast-pace chain of events forces him to confront shadows from his past, some of them rising from graves,
as well as paternal instincts and feelings for the women in his life. Chasing a ghost across Europe, Bartal ends up
losing time and lives.
FROM DEEP WITHIN is the third book in a series featuring Mossad agent Alex Bartel. Upon publication, it topped
the bestseller list, for three months.
“From Deep Within is one of the best spy thrillers I've read. In a style both frugal and sensitive, while maintaining a
dizzying rhythm along with a psychological depth and a highly believable depiction of characters, Roni Dunevich
presents this very imaginative and yet possible affair. In accordance with the best of this genre's tradition, he
succeeds in marking the thin and sometimes elusive line between good and bad, between moral and immoral,
and in doing so he places his book on a level with works by some of the best spy thriller novelists, including
Graham Greene and John le Carré.“ Amnon Jackont
Following an illustrious career in advertising, political campaigns and strategic consulting, RONI DUNEVICH
has turned to writing espionage fiction. His first book, HUNTED, received the Gold Prize, awarded to exceptionally
bestselling titles. His second book, TRAPPED, was serialized in Israel's largest circulation newspaper, Yediot
Ahronot.
12

FICTION
SPRING 2013
Hagar Yanai
THE WHALE
OF BABYLON
(Middle Grade Fantasy)
Spain: Pamies
Israel: Keter Publishing
317 pages
Full English Translation by Margalit Rodgers and Darlene Quayle
when
Darkness
it
cripples
form,
can
cause
and paralyzes
the
severe
soul
harm
its most
in
Photo by Tamar Karavan
One night a thief infiltrates the lab of Dr. Emanuel Margolis, an esteemed scientist who is working to put an end
to depression. He steals the only existing bottle of a new breakthrough medicine which was intended for Tammy,
Dr. Margolis’s beloved wife. The house is ransacked, but 12-year-old Jonathan and 15-year-old Ella survive. When
their eccentric Aunt arrives, the children hide in the bathtub and find themselves sucked down the drain and
deposited in Babylon, a magical world where magic and science, demons and machines coexist.
Babylon is ruled by The Order of the Hashdarpans which battles the Plague of Darkness, a terrible menace that
originates in The Abyss. Throughout the kingdom rumors run rampant about a leviathan, a whale of extraordinary
size and powers that has mysteriously appeared off the coast. Jonathan and Ella must find the thief, save the
Kingdom of Babylon, and battle their own hearts’ true desires in the form of the alluring princess and heir to the
throne, Nin-Urmiz, and the dashing rebel leader Hillel Ben-Shahar.
THE WHALE OF BABYLON is a bold Young Adult Fantasy novel that borrows from Jewish, Babylonian, Sumerian
and Akkadian mythology. Yanai creates an exciting alternate history while telling the stories of both Jonathan and
Ella Margolies as they quest for freedom, sanity and self-identity.
★ Winner of the Geffen Award for Sci-Fi and Fantasy Fiction
★ Shortlisted for the Sapir Prize
★ Winner of the Israeli Prime Minister's Literature Award
”A new Israeli book that can be compared with Ursula Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea and Diana Wynne Jones’
Howl’s Moving Castle series...It’s one heck of a book. [T]he story isn’t just an instrument to communicate a
simplistic penny-ante philosophy, but something multi-leveled, rich and variable, flexible and unexpected.”
Gili Bar-Hillel, YNET
”THE WHALE OF BABYLON is the book I’ve been waiting for all these years: a truly fine and truly Israeli fantasy novel.
Yanai’s fantasy connects well not only to mythology but also to current fantasy fiction…what’s most significant in
Yanai’s novel is that despite its locale, this novel naturally finds a place on the shelf alongside titles by Philip Pullman,
J K Rowling, Neil Gaiman and the rest of today’s outstanding fantasy authors.” Didi Chanoch, Walla!
HAGAR YANAI is a writer, editor, initiator of literary projects and a creative writing teacher. For over a decade she
has also been a presenter of literary television segments. She has authored five novels, including the first two books
of a Young Adult Fantasy trilogy. For these two fantasy novels she consecutively won the Geffen Award for sci-fi
and fantasy fiction (2007 and 2008). She has also been short-listed for the 2006 Sapir Prize (the Israeli equivalent of
the Man Booker Prize) and has received the Israeli Prime Minister’s Literary Award. http://www.tehom.co.il/
13

ehind
FICTION
SPRING 2013
every wall someone was
Anat Talshir
full
teeming
with
and
secrets
of
though
as
seemed
zealots;
waiting
to
it
IF I FORGET THEE
you...
accost
Jerusalem looked more mysterious,
Germany: Diana Verlag
Turkey: Pegasus
Israel: Kinneret
271 pages
Full English translation by Evan Fallenberg
In Jerusalem, in the final days of the British Mandate for Palestine, a man and a woman meet on the viewing stand
of a parade marking the anniversary of the inauguration of King George VI. Lila Cassuto, a young Jewish woman
from an impoverished family, and Elias Riani, an Arab tea merchant with a distinguished pedigree, begin a love affair.
But soon war breaks out and Lila and Elias find themselves on opposite sides of a divided city. They and their city will
not be reunited for nineteen years. Can their love survive the painful and turbulent years of separation and change?
The only party to the secret of their great love is Nomi, the young daughter of Lila’s friend Margo. Nomi walks
through life unnoticed but noticing everyone and everything around her, and she becomes the repository for the
lovers’ letters of longing, and the person to whom Elias turns with his life’s final request.
IF I FORGET THEE is an impeccably written love story set against the bitter conflict over Jerusalem. This poignant
novel, with its vivid historical context, resonates long after the last page.
“Talshir's obvious love for her characters…is compelling, well felt and meticulously written. It is a novel about the
Jerusalem Talshir grew up in [and] the inability to love wholly, to live peacefully, in a city whose wholeness is never
complete.“ Tal Marmelstein, Israel Today
“Talshir narrates skillfully, creating believable and touching characters…The book sweeps the reader to a far gone
time, to its sounds and its smells…One of the ten things to pass the winter with.“ Michal Fleisher, Kalkalist
ANAT TALSHIR is one of Israel’s most distinguished investigative journalists. She has also produced several
documentaries, including an award-winning series about the Israeli Jewish underground. Talshir has received the
prestigious Sokolov Award (2002) for her investigative report linking military training practices with high cancer rates
among soldiers. She has hosted a television show on current affairs and has taught creative writing. Talshir is working
on her second novel.
14

RECENT SALES
SPRING 2013
Calderon, Ruth
READING THE TALMUD
BAREFOOT (Nonfiction)
USA: JPS and University of Nebraska
Press; Israel, Keter Publishing
Photo by Dan Porges
Grossman, David
& Michal Rovner (Illustrations)
THE HUG (Fiction)
USA: Overlook Press; UK: Duckworth;
Italy: Mondadori; Germany: Hanser
Verlag; Holland: Cossee; Spain (Catalan):
La Cruilla; Spain: Sexto Piso; France: Steidl
Verlag; Israel: Am Oved
Friedman, Matti
Photo by Sebastian
Scheiner
THE ALEPPO CODEX
(Nonfiction)
USA: Algonquin Books; Germany:
Herder Verlag; Holland: Lannoo
Publishers; Australia: Scribe
Publications; Czech Republic: Pistorius;
France: Albin Michel; Korea: Gloseum;
Russia: Text Publishers; Israel: Kinneret
Elbaum, Dov
INTO THE FULLNESS
OF THE VOID
(Nonfiction)
USA: Jewish Lights;
Israel, Am Oved
Goodman, Micah
SECRETS OF THE GUIDE
FOR THE PERPLEXED
(Nonfiction)
USA: JPS and University of Nebraska
Press; Israel: Kinneret
Kashua, Sayed
SECOND PERSON SINGULAR
(Fiction)
USA: Grove Atlantic; UK: Chatto &
Windus; Germany: Berlin Verlag; France:
Editions Olivier; Italy: Neri Pozza; Holland:
Ambo/Anthos; Taiwan: Crown Publishers;
China: Horizon; Slovakia: Slovart; Spain:
Galaxia Gutenberg; Spain (Catalan):
Edicions De 1984; Turkey: Picus Yaymcilik;
Czech Republic: Pistorius Israel: Keter
Hilu, Alon
AS FAR AS POSSIBLE
(Fiction)
Holland: Ambo/Anthos;
Israel: Yediot Ahronot Books
Leshem, Ron
NILOOFAR (Fiction)
Germany: Rowohlt; France: Editions du
Seuil; Italy: l’Ancora del Mediterraneo;
Israel: Kinneret
Gorenberg, Gershom
Photo by Debbi Cooper
THE UNMAKING
OF ISRAEL
(Nonfiction)
USA: HarperCollins;
Germany: Campus Verlag
Grossman, David
Photo by David
Blumenfeld
Rees, Matt
A NAME IN BLOOD
(Fiction)
UK: Corvus; UK: audio: AudioGo Ltd;
Germany: Beck Verlag; Brazil: Novo
Seculo; Italy: Newton Compton Editori;
Russia: Sindbad
Photo by Dan Porges
FALLING OUT OF TIME (Fiction)
USA: Knopf Publishing; UK: Jonathan
Cape; Italy: Mondadori; Germany:
Hanser Verlag; Holland: Cossee; Spain:
Lumen; Spain (Catalan): Ediciones 62;
Norway: Agora; Brazil: Cia das Letras;
France: Editions du Seuil; Poland: Swiat
Ksiazki; Romania: Polirom; Sweden:
Albert Bonniers; Israel: Siman Kri’a/
HaKibbutz HaMeuchad/Kinneret
Sikseck, Ayman
TO JAFFA (Fiction)
Germany: Arche Verlag;
Israel: Yediot Ahronot
15

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