All Roads

The novel centers around a powerful secret that drives all the characters, whether they know it or not. It contains three parts, each one a monologue which deals in a unique manner with the Holocaust and World War II. The first narrative gives us the story of Albert Landau, a former art detective and Nazi-hunter. Shortly before the millennium, at age 80, Albert decides to end his life and we follow his last day at home in Ramat Gan. Against the backdrop of present events, however, come nightmarish fragments of memory, telling us of flight and terror during World War II, and hinting at Albert`s identity as a Holocaust survivor.The second part relates to Esther, Albert’s ex-wife. After his suicide, she discovers that he has left her clues pointing to a double life and secrets in his past. She decides to travel to Berlin, where he was born, in order to find out about a certain Erika Keller with whom he corresponded in secret. Esther is convinced that Erika was Albert`s mistress, and that his double life relates to her. But in Berlin she discovers something quite different. This, in turn, leads us to the third narrative, in which Arnold Becker tells us about his experiences as a staff sergeant in the SS towards the end of World War II. And now Esther discovers the truth: Arnold Becker is none other than her husband Albert, and this husband, whom everyone thought to be a Holocaust survivor, was in fact a German who changed his identity at the end of the war.

The novel`s final section redraws the character of Albert and re-examines the conventional relationship between victimizer and victim. Albert`s past – the lie that permeated his life –as well as Esther`s blindness to it also raise questions concerning personal identity and family relations: how do we define a person`s identity and to what extent is it shaped by the person himself, by circumstances and by his or her relations with other people?