Neuland

In his most ambitious novel to date, Eshkol Nevo merges a compelling love story with a tale of wandering Jews: those who come to the Promised Land, and those, now Israeli, who leave again. On the cusp of World War II, young Lily flees Warsaw and reaches Mandatory Palestine, where she marries her fiance and builds a life. But she can never forget Fima, the musician she fell in love with on the ship, and in her old age she returns in her mind to the love she never lived.

At the age of 60, Fima`s son Meni suddenly closes his business in Jerusalem and decides to go backpacking in South America, only to disappear after he arrives. Extremely worried, his son Dori flies out to search for him, leaving his wife and son behind. In the meantime, Inbar, an adventurous young Israeli woman, visits her mother who now lives in Berlin. But as Inbar is about to board her flight home, she suddenly changes her mind and flies instead to the other side of the world, where she meets Dori. There, the two fall for each other. Yet they dare not consummate their love. Not even as the novel reaches its climax and they find “Neuland” – New Land -, an improved mini-version of the State of Israel that Meni has established. And indeed, this new utopia attracts Israelis as well as other nationals in search of a new beginning.

Will Dori and Inbar, whose lives are in crisis, get a chance to start again? Spanning continents and more than half a century, Nevo skilfully maps the life of dreams. And however briefly, each character is given the chance to glimpse another life – the life that could have been theirs.