Cover

About the Book

‘One day a man may just pick up and walk out. What he leaves behind stays behind. What’s left behind has nothing to stare at but his back.’

In the winter of 1965, Yonaton Lifshitz decided to leave the kibbutz on which he was born, and his sterile marriage, to start a new life. But as he engineers his escape, the arrival of Azariah Gitlin, a keen new recruit, brings about a painful reconciliation of their different destinies in a society struggling with changing realities.

About the Author

Born in Jerusalem in 1939, Amos Oz is the internationally acclaimed author of many novels and essay collections, translated into thirty languages. His novels include My Michael, Black Box, To Know a Woman and his most recent book is his memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness. He has received several international awards, including the Prix Fémina, the Israel Prize and the Frankfurt Peace Prize. He lectures in literature at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev. He is married with two daughters and a son, and lives in Arad, Israel.

ALSO BY AMOS OZ

Fiction

My Michael
Elsewhere, Perhaps
Touch the Water, Touch the Wind
Unto Death
The Hill of Evil Counsel
Where the Jackals Howl
Black Box
To Know a Woman
Fima
Don’t Call it Night
Panther in the Basement
The Same Sea

Non-Fiction

In the Land of Israel
The Slopes of Lebanon
Under this Blazing Light
Israel, Palestine & Peace
Help Us to Divorce: Israel & Palestine: Between Right and Right
A Tale of Love and Darkness

Dedication

For Children

Soumchi

Title Page

Part 1
___________

Winter

1

One day a man may just pick up and walk out. What he leaves behind stays behind. What’s left behind has nothing to stare at but his back. In the winter of 1965 Yonatan Lifshitz decided to leave his wife and the kibbutz on which he had been born and raised. He had finally made up his mind to run away and start a new life.