Winter in Jerusalem

Plot

D'Alpuget delineates a culture and its inhabitants as few authors do. In Turtle Beach ( LJ 10/15/83) it was Malaysia; here it is modern Israel, rife with moral contradictions. Australian screenwriter Danielle Green returns to her native Israel, 34 years after leaving it as a young child, to visit her father and to research a potential blockbuster movie about Masada. She finds a country on edge, in which her anti-Arab zealot father denies her existence and refuses her presence and a terrorist bombing brushes her with death. Still, she is moved by the land, warmed by an old friendship, and joyful during a brief affair with her slippery producer-director. This exceptional novel bursts with the energy and turmoil of Israel, as seen through the eyes of a character so well-defined she seems like an old friend.