Defy the Wilderness

by Lynne Reid Banks

Hardcover

Published October 1, 1981

About the author

Lynne Reid Banks is a British author of books for children and adults. She has written forty books, including the best-selling children's novel The Indian in the Cupboard, which has sold over 10 million copies and been made into a film.
Banks was born in London, the only child of James and Muriel Reid Banks. She was evacuated to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada during World War II but returned after the war was over. She attended St Teresa's School in Surrey. Prior to becoming a writer Banks was an actress, and also worked as a television journalist in Britain, one of the first women to do so. Her first novel, The L-Shaped Room, was published in 1960.
In 1962 Banks emigrated to Israel, where she taught for eight years on an Israeli kibbutz Yasur. In 1965 she married Chaim Stephenson, with whom she had three sons. Although the family returned to England in 1971 and Banks now lives in Dorset, the influence of her time in Israel can be seen in some of her books which are set partially or mainly on kibbutzim.

Reviews

[Eilonwy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novelist Anne is not Jewish, but she developed an affinity for Israel when she lived on a kibbutz for ten years in the 1960’s. Now, in the late 1970’s, she’s returned, with the intention of writing a nonfiction book about the perpetual tensions and threats between Arabs and Jews.

This was a pretty interesting book, as it tries to explore, through Anne’s interviews and relationships, all the aspects of why Israel is forever stuck in regional turmoil and resentment. Anne stays with a Russian Jew who runs a theater in an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem. She talks to left-wingers, hard right-wingers, people in between, and visits her former lover who still lives on the kibbutz but has turned into a very different person from the time they were together. It provides a lot of insight, but no solutions. The worst thing about this book is, it was published in 1979, but it doesn’t seem like anything has changed in the intervening 40 years.

There is a sort of plot, but the book is mostly people expressing their personal philosophies. It was fascinating, but ultimately depressing, partly due to the events of the story, but also to this awful position of looking back from now to then and feeling hopeless.

I’m glad I read it, but it’s definitely heavy and controversial.

[Angela Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book which I have finished reading. Although it was written in the 1980s the topic is very current and provided me with a better understanding of what is going on at the moment in the Middle East. The characterisation was excellent and varied.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I half hoped this the novel set in an Israeli kibbutz that had such a major impact when I read it many, many years ago, which it was not. Nevertheless, the impact was many times greater, clarifying, informing/updating me (despite having been written in 1980) of the troubled situation between Arabs and Jews. Thought-provoking on several important levels.

[Janet Bird · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading The L Shaped Room I could not get enough of this author. Enjoyed all.