The Lost Solos

Filled with passion and enchantment, this novel weaves together a number of love stories culminating in one outrageous moment. It takes place in an imaginary town in northern Israel called the City of the Righteous, and takes a sly look at the ludicrous, infuriating and touching aspects of real life in Israel, while at the same time it tells a universal tale of loneliness and the need to be understood.

Moshe Ben-Tzuk sees himself as reborn. Raised on a kibbutz, he later served as an officer on a secret army base, but was never at peace. Now, after a deep inner crisis, he is ultra-Orthodox, married with children, living in the City of the Righteous and serving as personal aide to the mayor. On the surface, he has found his place in the world. But why does the memory of his youthful love, Ayelet, continually disrupt his peace of mind? A job for the mayor leads to a meeting with Ayelet, seven years after they parted. Will Ben-Tzuk give up his wife and family and choose his love?

Someone who does choose love without hesitating is Na’im, a young Arab building contractor and bird lover. Ben-Tzuk hires him to build a ritual bath house in an area with many new immigrants from Russia. But everything goes wrong. Na’im is suspected of spying and is arrested; he manages—by a trick—to get released, and meets the girl of his dreams. Meanwhile, the neighborhood residents turn the bath house (intended for ritual cleansing) into a red-hot trysting place for lovers.

With remarkable narrative charm and his rare talent for bringing us close to his characters, Eshkol Nevo unfolds a story that reads like a contemporary fairy tale.