The Remains of Love - Softcover

Zeruya Shalev

Softcover

ISBN 10: 140884186X ISBN 13: 9781408841860

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Synopsis

Hemda Horowitz is nearing the end of her life. As she lies in bed in Jerusalem, the present flickers in and out and memories from the past flood her thoughts: her childhood in the kibbutz spent under the disappointed gaze of her stern, pioneer father; the lake that was her only solace; and her own two children, one whom she could never love and the other whom she loved too much. Avner, the beloved child, has grown up to be a heavy, anguished man, disillusioned by his work and trapped in a loveless marriage. When visiting his mother in hospital he witnesses an elegant couple's final poignant moments together; after the man's death Avner becomes obsessed with finding the woman, and a strange and delicate relationship unfolds. Dina, Hemda's daughter, has put aside her career in order to give her teenage daughter, Nitzan, the warmth she never received from her own mother. But Nitzan is withdrawing from her, and as Dina slides into despair she is overcome by a longing to adopt a child - a longing that, if fulfilled, may destroy her fragile family. Zeruya Shalev's new novel is at once a meditation on the state of modern Israel and a profound exploration of family, yearning, compromise and the insistent pull of the past.

About this title

About the Author:

Zeruya Shalev was born at Kibbutz Kinneret. She is the author of three previous novels; Love Life, Husband and Wife and Thera, a book of poetry and a children's book. Her work is critically acclaimed and internationally bestselling. Shalev has been awarded the Book Publishers Association's Gold and Platinum Prizes four times, the Corine International Book Prize (Germany, 2001), the Amphi Award (France, 2003), the ACUM Prize twice (1997, 2005), the French Wizo Prize (2007), the prestigious Welt-Literature Award (2012) and The Remains of Love is a finalist of the Bottary Lattes Grinzane Prize (Italy, 2013). Husband and Wife was also nominated for the Prix Femina Prize (France, 2002). A feature film of Love Life, produced in Germany, was released in 2008. Her books have been translated into twenty-five languages. She lives in Jerusalem. Philip Simpson's published translations from Hebrew to English include The Lover by A.B. Yeshoshua, Where the Jackals Howl by Amos Oz, A Guide to the Perplexed by Gilad Atzmon and Aleppo Tales by Haim Sabato. He lives in Norfolk.

From Publishers Weekly:

The agony of death is supplanted by the challenges of family in Israeli writer Shalev&'s (Late Family) fifth book. Hemda was the first baby born in a progressive kibbutz, raised with high expectations as her mother traveled the world raising money to support her. Now elderly, Hemda lies in a hospital in Jerusalem after a fall in her apartment; she revisits moments from her past, imagining that her parents are visiting her at her bedside. Instead, it&'s her children who wait nearby, bringing their own issues: having missed her opportunity to have a second child, Dina wants to adopt, but her husband and her daughter think she&'s deluded and refuse to participate; and Avner, after seeing a dying man at the same hospital where his mother is being treated, is obsessed with finding the man&'s grieving partner. Shalev captures both the stuffy claustrophobia of the hospital and the abyss of possibility outside as Hemda&'s health problems force her children to reckon with their legacies and change what they can. The author&'s long, internal-facing paragraphs amplify the drama and allow each of the Horovitzes to have a say as they face an uncertain future without Hemda&'s influence. (Dec.)

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• ISBN 10: 140884186X
• ISBN 13: 9781408841860
• Binding: Paperback