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Bestseller

An Ocean Between Us

Rachel and Michael met and fell in love in Toulouse in 1913, just before World War I. Rachel had come from Palestine to study agronomy; Michael, from Russia, was studying electrical engineering. But they were kept apart by historical events, by revolutionary ideology and, no less, by their inhibitions. In 1915, Rachel traveled back to Russia, the land of her birth, but when the war was over she returned to Palestine, whose landscapes she adored, and became a celebrated poet. Michael went back to Russia for good and led a undistinguished life. They never met again, but his love for Rachel endured, preserved in the 29 letters that he wrote to her. These letters and Gertz’s in-depth research are the keystone to this fascinating literary and historical drama, centering around a couple seen as the heroes of a lost generation―their dreams were too great and ended in disillusion.

Rachel later became a famous poetand a cultural heroine. Her poetry as well as her brief life–cut short by tuberculosis–were widely mythologized. Michael did not become a revolutionary, he just tried to survive. He worked as a teacher in the shadow of historic events, and wrote textbooks on electricity that reflected the Communist Party line. He gave up his desire to change the world as well as his love, preferring to leave his relationship with Rachel as a dream.

Gertz weaves a captivating story of frustrated love, with all its twists and turns in France, Russia and Palestine.

Languages
Italian, Russian, Spanish
Title An Ocean Between Us
Writer's Last Name Gertz
Writer's First Name Nurit
Genre Fiction
Publisher (Hebrew) Dvir
No. Pages 288pp.
Book title - Hebrew (phonetic) Yam Beini Le-Veinech
  • “ It has been some time since I have read a book that was so meticulous, so exquisite that it moved me to tears … that brought me so close to the characters and that gave me such an exact sense of time and of people, in the snow and in the sun, of houses, streets, fields, landscapes, longing. It is a wonder that this novel can make so much out of so little. And with what subtlety and caution emotional baggage is depicted, something that could easily have slid into sentimentality. But the concrete and detailed design keeps this baggage in check. And nonetheless, despite all the restraint, Rachel and Michael make one’s heart tremble. ”

    Author Amos Oz
  • “I also read Nurith Gertz’s superb book without a break, thrilled and excited … A rare book … A riveting historical-literary drama … A painful and captivating love story, one which real life could not accommodate. In the difficult and bad times we are going through in a divided and bleeding Israeli society, there is something cathartic and consoling in this literary encounter made possible by Gretz’s book … Rachel the Poetess will always occupy us, and Gretz’s book can be seen as a superb contribution. ”

    Poet Haim Gouri, Haaretz
  • “Nurith Gertz has very freely and very responsibly woven one of the loveliest and most profound love stories ever to be written here … Prose that is exquisite and multi-layered … Sometimes I felt as though I was reading the book through a stethoscope that was attacked to the text and helping me understand its unique ”

    Yair Garbuz, Yedioth Ahronoth
  • “A beautiful book.”