Strange things are happening in Tel Ilan, a century-old pioneer village. A disgruntled retired politician complains to his daughter that he hears the sound of digging at night. Could it be their tenant, that young Arab? But then the young Arab hears the digging sounds too. Where has the mayor’s wife gone, vanished without a trace, her note saying “Don’t worry about me”?
Around the village, the veneer of new wealth—gourmet restaurants, art galleries, a winery—barely conceals the scars of war and of past generations: disused air raid shelters, rusting farm tools, and trucks left wherever they stopped.
Scenes from Village Life is a memorable novel-in-stories by the inimitable Amos Oz: a brilliant, unsettling glimpse of what goes on beneath the surface of everyday life.
Amos Oz (1939–2018) was an Israeli journalist and author of acclaimed fiction, nonfiction, and short stories who was called one of “Israel’s most prolific writers and respected intellectuals” by the New York Times. He was awarded many honors, including the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, France’s the Legion of Honor award, the Israel Prize, the Goethe Prize, the Prince of Asturias Award in Literature, and the Heinrich Heine Prize, among others.View all by Amos Oz
