This original historical novel tells of the happenings in pre-Israel Palestine.......during the time of the British Mandate, before the State of Israel was declared. The hero is a young immigrant who does not get swept away by the events and stormy time. His story includes his search for love and a home in his new homeland , influenced by his new friends' but searching for his own truth. Yael Madini is a wonderful story-teller who has chosen a particularly exciting period of pre-Israel in the 1930's. She is the daughter of Moshe Sharet, the first foreign minister and the second Prime Minister of Israel. She has received several prizes for her stories and books for children and grown-ups.
Yael Madini's story of a new immigrant to pre-statehood Israel (then called Palestine) in the British Mandate years of the 1930's. Her anti-hero, Yehoshua, meets his new friends while walking the streets of Tel Aviv.....and through them finds his work, love and home. The story is exciting because of the times.....and creates the atmosphere of the era when immigrants arrived as ma'apilim, illegal immigrants, on the poorly suited boats which hardly made their way from Europe to the country....stopped by the British whenever they could...and those who did manage to reach the shores were quickly whisked away and swallowed up by the Zionists living and trying to make a new country for all who needed it.
Many parts of the life of those who came and those who received them are brought to life by the story-telling talents of this fine authoress. She has won several prizes for her stories and books, among them The Boy I Didn't Know, which was given the prize by Yad VeShem.
Yael Madini is the daughter of Moshe Sharet....first foreign minister of Israel and its second Prime Minister. She has dedicated her book to her Uncle Eliyahu Golomb, who was very active in the Haganah and the beginnings of Zionism in Paelstine/Israel.
The book came as a gift....and sat on my shelf for a long time before I finally took it in my hands.......and could hardly put it down! Read till 5 in the morning........and till late at night.......being surprised over and over again. Yael Madini is a wonderful story-teller....and her plot is intriguing with many zig-zags in my feelings about the characters who come alive and do the unexpected.