';Oz's strangest, riskiest, and richest novel.' Washington Post Book WorldIsrael, 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)