Books in the Hebrew Literature series

The Death of Lysanda collects two macabre novellas by one of Israel's greatest poets. In the title piece, we meet Naphtali Noi, a recently divorced proofreader, critic, and "e;creative"e; taxidermist, given to hallucinations and soon perhaps to add murder to his hobbies. Ants tells the story of a married couple, Jacob and Rachel, who discover that an army of the titular insects is threatening to destroy their rooftop apartment-but Rachel seems to be on their side rather than her husband's. In fragmented prose halfway between the Old Testament and the playful experiments of Julio Cortazar, these tales take to pieces the psyches of two men-and a nation-at war with themselves.

The hilarious second novel from actress and bestselling novelist Alona Kimhi holds up a comically warped mirror to contemporary Israel, as well as the very notion of "e;chick lit."e; Inhabiting a dark fairy-tale version of modern life, drawing equal inspiration from Angela Carter and the iconography of the classic horror movie, this is the story of Lily, our proudly overweight and romantically unlucky protagonist, who discovers a wild freedom in part through her friendship with a Russian prostitute, Ninush. This is a world of cellulite-dissolving panties, sex change as an outlet for self-expression, and the final triumph of the titular tigress; where metamorphosis is the rule, and where the waking world has become a funhouse prowled by our wildest desires.

Emil, the unwanted child of two young parents, is adopted by Yoel and Leah, a childless couple. Yet, as the years pass, it becomes clear that Emil doesn't bear much resemblance to the parents who've loved and raised him. Is his name the only thing his real parents have left him? Kin traces the movements of Emil and his four parents as they walk through the same city, nearby but apart, searching for each other in the faces of passersby; until Yoel, now old, becomes determined to do the impossible: return his grown son-a lonely man approaching middle age-to his birth parents. In prose that is both minimal and subtly off kilter, acclaimed Israeli novelist Dror Burstein introduces us to an Israel that is as peculiar, and poignant, as Donald Barthelme's America: ranging from an apocalyptic future to the petty annoyances of daily life, from shifting continents to tiny heartbreaks.