House Arrest - by Noa Yedlin (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"Engrossing . . . Freud would have had a field day with this talky, gossipy, and prescient dark comedy of high-level corruption and warped family ties . . . This is a wry tonic with a delicious final twist."--Publishers Weekly

This prize-winning novel chronicles a scandal that envelops a prominent Jerusalem family and leads to its downfall. The unsettling tale begins when Elisheva Fogel is accused of embezzling millions from the think tank she directs. Her three adult children try to close ranks, but old and new grievances surface, media scrutiny intensifies, romances inflame, and it's hard to know who to trust anymore. On top of it all, it's not just a renowned matriarch who comes under the microscope--everybody stands to lose financial and social capital. The allegation and its repercussions expose not only cracks in a heretofore esteemed clan, but plenty of hypocrisy throughout elite Israeli society. The novel has Noa Yedlin's hallmark traits: richly detailed scenes and settings, piercing humor, and incisive social critique, all propelled by an immersive story.

Reading group guide to House Arrest is available for download free of charge at newvesselpress.com.

Review Quotes

"Engrossing . . . Freud would have had a field day with this talky, gossipy, and prescient dark comedy of high-level corruption and warped family ties . . . This is a wry tonic with a delicious final twist."--Publishers Weekly

"Any reader who enjoyed Jonathan Franzen's 2001 novel, The Corrections, will likely rejoice at Noa Yedlin's House Arrest, which recently won Israel's prestigious Sapir Prize for Fiction. Similarly sophisticated and darkly hilarious, this novel takes on the blemishes of an elite Israeli family and the decline of their entire social and political class . . . bursting with wit, humanity, and psychological insight."--Jewish Book Council

"A lucid, clear, and distinct voice, intellectual as well as hot-blooded. Yedlin has the gift of a natural storyteller, and her contemporaries in Hebrew literature will have to work very hard to reach the bar she has set."--Dorit Rabinyan, author of All the Rivers

"Searing character study of an upper middle class family whose members crave respect, but also often cut corners . . . A biting satirical novel that troubles the gap between what people earn and what they think they deserve."--Foreword Reviews

"New Vessel Press, the acclaimed independent publishing house of fiction and narrative nonfiction in translation, has done it again . . . given us the arresting (pun intended) House Arrest, a satire by Israeli writer and journalist Noa Yedlin . . . I'm amazed at the skill of the translators, the experienced Shira Atik and Evan Fallenberg, who found just the right words to serve up the satire."--Moment Magazine

"One family becomes a mirror to an entire social class in Israel . . . One should run, run to buy this book."--Haaretz

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About the Author

Noa Yedlin is a bestselling Israeli author acclaimed for her dark and subtle humor. The recipient of the Sapir Prize and the Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works, she has created an award-winning television series based on her novel Stockholm.

Shira Atik studied Hebrew literature at Barnard College and New York University and has translated works by Savyon Liebrecht, Gadi Taub, and Ofra Offer Oren.

Evan Fallenberg has translated works by Meir Shalev, Batya Gur, and Hanoch Levin. He is the author of three novels and teaches creative writing at Bar-Ilan University .