Concerto for Spy and Orchestra

Espionage and the arts combine within the confines of the Pravoslav Church in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem in the early 1990s. Apparently prayers and music are not the sole business in the holy church, where spies and double agents, still up to no good despite the fall of the “Red Empire of Evil,” continue to conspire and plot. The story is told from the double perspective of two central characters: Irit Dolev, doctor of Musicology, born in the former Soviet Union who came to Israel at the age of 6, and Yochanan Raviv, a member of the General Security Service, a man with a sense of humor whose wife has left him for someone else. Irit is conducting a scientific study in the Pravoslav Church under the guidance of Professor Victor Geller. Geller, a renowned musicologist and legendary figure among the Soviet refuseniks, turns out to be a Russian sleeper. Irit, carried away by her sense of adventure and a penchant for risk-taking, becomes caught up in an espionage drama. She is attracted to Yochanan, who is equally enamored by the charms of the young musicologist. Then there is Osip, the Hebrew speaking priest, who turns out to be a GSS agent. His operator, Dov, was shot in Madrid by activists in the Basque Underground. The full details of the incident are only revealed at the end of the book. Yochanon was sure he knew his admired commander, Amnon, better than any one else. Amnon, however turns out to be no more than a mole and a traitor. Yochanan learns the hard way that no one is ever totally above suspicion.