Description

Froma marvelous new voice Rebecca Makkai theseextraordinarily imaginative Sigrid Nunez revelatory Nicole Krausssuperb Kiran Desai stories transcend borders as they render the intimate lives of people striving for connection

WINNER OF THE AJL JEWISH FICTION AWARD FINALIST FOR THE WINGATE PRIZE

The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land announces the arrival of a naturalborn storyteller of immense talent Warm poignant delightfully whimsical Omer Friedlanders gorgeously immersive and imaginative stories take you to the narrow limestone alleyways of Jerusalem the desolate beauty of the Negev Desert and the sprawling orange groves of Jaffa with characters that spring to vivid life A divorced con artist and his daughter sell empty bottles of holy air to credulous tourists a Lebanese Scheherazade enchants three young soldiers in a bombedout Beirut radio station a boy daringly rooftops at night climbing steel cranes in scuffed sneakers even as he reimagines the bravery of a PolishJewish dancer during the Holocaust an Israeli volunteer at a West Bank checkpoint mourns the death of her son a soldier killed in Gaza

These stories render the intimate lives of people striving for connection They are fairy tales turned on their head by the stakes of real life where moments of fragile intimacy mix with comedy and notes of the absurd Told in prose of astonishing vividness that also demonstrates remarkable control and restraint they have a universal appeal to the heart