Neuland

Dori’s father has gone travelling in South America and, suffering from some kind of breakdown, following the death of his wife, he goes missing. Dori sets out to find him, leaving his wife and young son at home in Israel.

Inbar is escaping from her life – from the grief that she can’t shake after her brother’s death, from the boyfriend she doesn’t love – and impulsively sets out for South America. While she’s there she meets a man who is searching for his father…

In his most ambitious novel to date, Eshkol Nevo weaves a beautiful love story with two tales: the story of the wandering Jews who came to their Promised Land in the wake of the Second World War, embodied by Inbar’s grandmother Lily’s narrative of her sea journey over from Poland, and the story of a new generation of wandering Israelis who leave again to go backpacking, perhaps hoping that the distance will allow them to see their homeland more clearly. Neuland is a romantic adventure, a search for a father that leads to love, and a quest for an understanding of identity and for second chances. Is it ever possible to start again? Nevo has produced a daring, epic novel that asks profound questions, but the truth and warmth of his writing make it all-consuming and irresistibly loveable.