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In the Lebanese village of Bhamdoun in 1931, Joseph Friedmann is born to a 15-year-old Jewish girl hastily married off to a man thirty years her senior. His parents divorce, and at the age of eight, Joseph is sent to be raised in a Catholic convent. There he experiences anti-Semitism, betrayal, and a deep trauma he cannot bring himself to name. He falls in love with Isabella, a nun-in-training, but this too turns to heartbreak.
Joseph sets out on foot toward Palestine, where he takes part in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. He has finally found a home. But his new country needs Joseph’s unique set of skills, and he returns to Lebanon as an Israeli spy. Over time, the tools of his trade — daring, violence, deceit, and suppression of self — exact an ever-increasing toll. After twenty years undercover, he completes one final, decisive operation. Now Joseph faces a choice: escape to safety in Israel, or attempt to lay claim to his future by confronting the past — the mother who forsook him; the abbess who abused him; the lover who deserted him.
Year first published: 2026
