Hailed by Publishers Weekly as "magnificent", this moving novel is set in Israel just before the Six-Day War, and describes life on a kibbutz, where the founders of Israel and their children struggle to come to terms with their land and with each other. "(Oz's) strangest, riskiest, and richest novel".--Washington Post Book World.
"Oz's strangest, riskiest, and richest novel." --Washington Post Book World

Israel, just before the Six-Day War. On a kibbutz, the country's founders and their children struggle to come to terms with their land and with each other. The messianic father exults in accomplishments that had once been only dreams; the son longs to establish an identity apart from his father; the fragile young wife is out of touch with reality; and the gifted and charismatic "outsider" seethes with emotion. Through the interplay of these brilliantly realized characters, Oz evokes a drama that is chillingly, strikingly universal.

"[Oz is] a peerless, imaginative chronicler of his country's inner and outer transformations." --Independent (UK)