Mr. Mani

A six-generation family saga, extending from nineteenth-century Europe to British-occupied Palestine to German-occupied Crete and ultimately to modern Israel. Named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, chosen as one of the 50 Best Books of 1992 by Publishers Weekly, awarded the National Jewish Book Award and the first Israeli Literature Prize. Translated by Hillel Halkin.

A deeply affecting six-generational family saga that extends from 19th-century Greece and Poland to modern Israel. The narrative moves backward in time through five conversations about the bizarrely fated Mani family, climaxing in Athens in 1848 with an overpowering tale. A Notable Book of the Year. Part of the Harvest in Translation series.

A six-generation family saga, extending from nineteenth-century Europe to British-occupied Palestine to German-occupied Crete and ultimately to modern Israel. Named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, chosen as one of the 50 Best Books of 1992 by Publishers Weekly, awarded the National Jewish Book Award and the first Israeli Literature Prize. Translated by Hillel Halkin.

Publishers Weekly

The Israeli writer's previous novels ( A Late Divorce ; Five Seasons ) were critically acclaimed in this country; here he offers another richly textured, provocative work. An account of six generations of the Manis, a Jewish family living in the Middle East, the book is arranged in the form of five ``conversations,'' with the speech of only one of the two speakers present on the page. From 1982, the narrative moves backward to 1848, tracing dark domestic dramas occurring against the backdrop of historical events. Speakers--each with a strong, distinctive voice--include a contemporary Israeli woman, a Nazi soldier stationed in Crete during WW II, a British Jewish soldier in Palestine after WW I, a Jewish doctor in Galicia and a Jewish merchant in Athens. Spinning a cat's cradle of complex relationships, Yehoshua reaches beyond realism to the realms of mystery, coincidence and fate. His prose is simple and clear, rising to passages of lyricism and eloquence, as he gradually discloses the tragedy that haunts every generation of the Mani family: a succession of self-destructive, suicidal men and of fathers who die young, leaving emotionally needy children. Hints of a dread secret accrete through the narrative, to be revealed at the close. Yet the novel's message speaks to the indomitable spirit that keeps families alive. (Mar.)

A. B. YEHOSHUA is one of Israel's preeminent writers. His novels include Journey to the End of the Millenium, The Liberated Bride, and A Woman in Jerusalem, which was awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 2007. He lives in Haifa.