Product Description

Reminiscent of the early work of Jhumpa Lahiri, Ayelet Tsabaris award-winning debut collection of stories is global in scope yet intimate in feel, beautifully written, and emotionally powerful. From Israel to India to Canada, Tsabaris indelible characters grapple with love, violence, faith, the slipperiness of identity, and the challenges of balancing old traditions with modern times.

These eleven spellbinding stories often focus on Israels Mizrahi Jews, featuring mothers and children, soldiers and bohemians, lovers and best friends, all searching for their place in the world. In Tikkun, a man crosses paths with his free-spirited ex-girlfriendnow a married Orthodox Jewand minutes later barely escapes tragedy. In Brit Milah, a mother travels from Israel to visit her daughter in Canada and is stunned by her grandsons upbringing. A young medic in the Israeli army bends the rules to potentially dangerous consequence in Casualties. After her mom passes away, a teenage girl comes to live with her aunt outside Tel Aviv and has her first experience with unrequited love in Say It Again, Say Something Else. And in the moving title story, two estranged sistersone whose marriage is ending, the other whose relationship is just beginningtry to recapture the close bond they had as kids.

Absorbing, tender, and sharply observed, infuses moments of sorrow with small moments of grace: a boy composes poetry in a bomb shelter, an old photo helps a girl make sense of her mothers rootless past. Tsabaris voice is gentle yet wise, illuminating the burdens of history, the strength of the heart, and our universal desire to belong.

Praise for

Its impossible not to be awestruck by the depth and power rendered in Tsabaris stories.

Tsabari creates complex, conflicted, prickly people you'll want to get to know better.(starred review)

Theres remarkable scope in Ayelet Tsabaris which interweaves stories of discrimination, loss, displacement, sex, death, religion, and a host of other issues. And yet, despite the range of viewpoints and the different facets of Israeli society explored, this is a collection that always stays intensely personal, the broader forces of history moving not merely across nations but within the souls of her beautifully conceived characters.Phil Klay, National Book Awardwinning author of

With incredible compassion and a delicate touch, Ayelet Tsabari explores the heartbreak inherent in forming bonds, whether with another person or with a whole country. a complicated love song to Israel, is a sure-footed and stunningly skillful debut.Shelly Oria, author of

Powerful . . . brilliant . . . These stories . . . depict minorities so skillfully, with such a light and accurate touch.

Highly recommended . . . Compelling and compassionate; [Tsabaris stories] speak out from the heart of Israeli society and experiences. . . . The stories of leave you wishing they wouldnt end.

This short story collection is a fiction debut for Tsabari, but it demonstrates that she is already a talented storyteller. . . . Her writing has an immediacy and power that invites readers into her characters psyches.