by עמוס עוז
First published 2011
An elderly man in Tel Ilan village complains to his daughter about mysterious digging sounds beneath his house each night. He suspects his young Arab tenant, but the tenant hears the same unexplained noises. Meanwhile, the mayor searches frantically for his wife after finding her cryptic note saying not to worry about her. She has vanished without a trace. The village presents a facade of prosperity with its gourmet restaurants, art galleries, and winery, but this new wealth cannot hide the decay lurking everywhere. Abandoned outbuildings dot the landscape alongside disused air raid shelters, rusting farm equipment, and trucks abandoned where they broke down. Through interconnected stories, Oz reveals the hidden tensions simmering beneath ordinary village life, creating a parable that speaks to Israel and beyond.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Israel, Tel Ilan
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
249 pages · Hardcover · Gyldendal
Content warnings: anxiety, depression, mental-illness