In 1955, beloved journalist Benny Sasson travels to Jerusalem, gets off at the central bus station, and disappears. His wife, Rena, his mother, Malka, and his thirteen-year-old daughter Zohara are the heartbeat of a relentless search, joined by friends, Benny’s newspaper, and the police.
Benny’s disappearance exposes old resentments in a close-knit town, testing loyalties, friendships, and trust. Rumors about what happened become reckless. A surprise visitor from America uncovers buried family pain and awakens compassion.
The search for Benny is marked by the sorrow of the Holocaust, the impact of the 1948 war, Israeli women’s fight for inclusion, struggles over the rights of Arab workers, and a divided Jerusalem. As the mystery is resolved, revelations spread from East Jerusalem to Israel’s Knesset. The novel’s mystery and a young girl’s coming-of-age unfold against the backdrop of the new and evolving Israeli society of the 1950s and illuminate issues that remain unresolved today.
The book is available on Amazon
One reviewer writes “This novel tells several stories — of a girl’s coming-of-age, the changing relationships between friends and family members (both in the past and in the present), the early days of the new nation of Israel — and there’s a mystery behind it all that makes the book a page-turner. The threads are seamlessly connected. Both touching and engrossing. I loved it. Highly recommended!
Ayala Emmett is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Rochester. She was born in Tel Aviv, grew up in Ra’anana, and served in the Israeli army. After the Disappearance is her second book on Israel and her first novel. Her first book, Our Sister’s Promised Land: Women, Politics, and Israeli-Palestinian Coexistence, was published by the University of Michigan Press. Professor Emmett is a recipient of the Society for Humanistic Anthropology’s fiction award. She is the past anthropology editor of the journal Sex Roles and editor of The Jewish Pluralist, a digital publication engaged with the contemporary problems of both Jewish and non-Jewish life in America and Israel.