A caravan of Jews wanders through Eastern Europe at the end of the
nineteenth century on a heartbreaking quest. Spiritual seekers and the
elderly, widows and orphans, the sick and the dying, con artists and
adventurers, victims of pogroms who have no place else to go-they are
all on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but the journey is filled with
unexpected detours and unanticipated disaster.
Among them is Laish, a fifteen-year-old orphan, through whose eyes we
observe the interactions within this ragtag group of dreamers, holy men,
misfits, and thieves as they battle with one another, try to stay one
step ahead of the gendarmes, and do what little they can to keep up
their flagging spirits. With the death of the rabbi who brought the
group together, they are now led by men whom Laish refers to as "the
dealers"-black-market traders whose motives are questionable but who
periodically infuse the group with the money they need to get to the
next town.
Years pass, tempers start to fray, and the caravan grows smaller as
people die or abandon the venture. A brutal winter and typhoid epidemic
further decimate the ranks, and the pilgrims have begun to reach the
limits of their endurance. The dream of Jerusalem keeps the remnant
going, and against all odds they finally arrive-emotionally and
physically exhausted-at the port city of Galacz. They see their ship in
the harbor, but whether they will actually make it onto that ship is
suddenly and tragically thrown into doubt.
This magnificent new novel from Aharon Appelfeld ("One of the greatest
writers of the age" --The Guardian) resonates with a universality of
experience: the will to survive, the struggle to hold on to hope.
