The Liar and the City

Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

The narrative follows Nuphar, an ordinary girl who works in an ice-cream parlor during the summer. Dozens of customers come in every day, but no one gives Nuphar a second look - she is not one of those girls that the eye lingers on. But everything changes when Avishai Milner comes into the ice-cream parlor. An embittered reality-show runaway, he insults and humiliates her. Deeply offended, Nuphar rushes out to the backyard, and Avishai—who is still waiting for his change—chases after her. “Leave me alone!” she cries with all her 17 mediocre years’ worth of hurt and frustration. Her screams alert the townsfolk, and to her surprise everyone is convinced that Avishai tried to sexually assault her. Now, for the first time in her life, Nuphar finds herself the center of attention. The support that she receives from the community turns her into a kind of Cinderella and the ice-cream salesgirl becomes a Media Princess. But the magic of this Cinderella story comes from her lies about an attack that did not actually happen.

"It's a pleasure to read how Ayelet Gundar-Goshen exposes her protagonists with psychological mercilessness." 

Literatur Spiegel

"Ayelet Gundar-Goshen has a trained, keen sense of observation. Her narrative is characterized by a deep knowledge of human vulnerability."

Deutschlandfunk Kultur

"This novel gives readers the opportunity to consider all aspects of the concept of ‘lying’."

NDR Kultur

"A wonderful style of writing that makes the simplest sentences shine.”

Radio Schalom

"Ayelet Gundar-Goshen tempts us. Literary."

ZDF Aspekte

"The author’s enthralling, satirical style makes reading Nuphar's story highly enjoyable."

Tagesanzeiger

"Gundar-Goshen’s protagonists are very realistic in their own way; Gundar-Goshen shows their abysses as well as their reasons. This is sometimes gloomy, but always entertaining."

Emotion

“With brilliant irony and verbal finesse, the astonished reader is led through the great consequences of a little lie.”

Die Presse

The writing is brilliant.

WDR

A great book with psychological depth.

Die Zeit 

"Gundar-Goshen makes her inexhaustible imagination work at service of her writing. THere is a considerable amount of invention as always in her books. Scenes and characters seem to spring up spontaneously in a continuous creation."

La Stampa

“The truth becomes some people, and others are made beautiful by falsity,” writes the Israeli author in this novel in which 17-year-old Nofar, an ice-cream parlour attendant, finds herself falsely accusing a talent-show star of sexual assault. Gundar-Goshen problematises the relationship between victim and perpetrator in the era of #MeToo and fake news."

The Financial Times