Fate - by Zeruya Shalev (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The paths of two women from different generations cross in this nuanced, heartfelt novel that explores Zionist extremism in 1940s Palestine and the divides in present-day Israel.

When Atara's elderly father dies, he leaves behind a host of unanswered questions about his violent past and his strained relationship with his daughter. Yet one of their final meetings seems to provide a key to understanding: he mistakes Atara for his first wife, Rachel, revealing a warmth and kindness she had never seen in him. Atara sets out to find Rachel and uncover this long-buried chapter of his life. Why did their marriage end abruptly in 1948, after only one year? How were they changed by fighting together in the underground to establish the State of Israel?

Atara's encounter with Rachel will upend her own life and that of her family, sparking an uncontainable cascade of events. As their history is exposed, it illuminates but also casts a pall on the present and the future, confronting each character with dilemmas of fate, control, responsibility, faith, disappointment, and love.

Review Quotes

Praise for Pain

"Shalev reminds readers in keen, often brilliant prose that love, like pain, is indelible...a riveting exploration of family, sex and motherhood." --New York Times Book Review

"Always incisive on the complexities of family and relationship dynamics...Shalev plunges the reader into a whirlwind story of impossible choices." --The Guardian, Best New Books in Translation

"Zeruya Shalev is one of my favorite contemporary writers, her work always spiky and original, and Pain is a searing book, a wild and ravenous story of family entanglement and impossible yearning." --Lauren Groff, author of Florida and Fates and Furies

About the Author

Zeruya Shalev was born at Kibbutz Kinneret. She is the author of five previous novels, The Remains of Love, Love Life, Husband and Wife, Thera, and Pain (Other Press, 2019) and a book of poetry and two children's books. Her work has been translated into twenty-seven languages and won multiple awards, including the Corine International Book Prize, the Welt Literature Award, and the Prix Femina étranger.

Joan­na Chen is a writer and lit­er­ary trans­la­tor from Hebrew to Eng­lish whose trans­la­tions include Agi Mishol's Less Like a Dove, Yonatan Berg's Frayed Light (final­ist for the Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards), and Meir Shalev's My Wild Gar­den. Her own poet­ry and writ­ing has appeared in the Los Ange­les Review of Books Blog, Mantis, Poet Lore, Consequence, and Nar­ra­tive­ly. She teach­es lit­er­ary trans­la­tion at the Heli­con School of Poet­ry in Tel Aviv.