The paths of two women from different generations cross in this nuanced, heartfelt novel that explores the early days of Israel and its uncertain future.

When Atara’s elderly father dies, he leaves behind a host of unanswered questions about his violent past and his strained relationship with his daughter. Yet one of their final meetings seems to provide a key to understanding: he mistakes Atara for his first wife, Rachel, revealing a warmth and kindness she had never seen in him. Atara sets out to find Rachel and uncover this long-buried chapter of his life. Why did their marriage end abruptly in 1948, after only one year? How were they changed by fighting together in the underground to establish the State of Israel?

Atara’s encounter with Rachel will upend her own life and that of her family, sparking an uncontainable cascade of events. As their history is exposed, it illuminates but also casts a pall on the present and the future, confronting each character with dilemmas of fate, control, responsibility, faith, disappointment, and love.

Rights Sold:

Germany: Berlin Verlag; France: Gallimard; Holland: Meulenhoff; Poland: Foksal; Portugal: Relógio D'Água Editores; Czech: Prah; Italy: Feltrinelli; Romania: Humanitas Fiction; US: Other Press

Praise:

“Mesmerizing…The ruminative prose cuts across time, savoring the intricacies of people’s inner worlds…a panoramic novel about a daughter’s search into her father’s past and the unexpected kinship she finds because of it.” —Foreword Reviews

"A very beautiful novel in which the inner lives of individuals are, as it were, connected, linked by a fine network of threads and knots to the history and geography of Israel." —Télérama

"Zeruya Shalev confirms an exceptional gift for making the most complex Israeli realities familiar to us." —Lire

"A vibrant declaration of love." —Biblioteca Magazine

"A new great book from the Israeli author" —Version Femina

"Shalev scrutinizes relationships between couples, motherhood, and wounds that never heal, in an ambitious novel in which each character embodies a facet of Israeli society." —Les Inrockuptibles

"The novel is a literary archaeology of familial lies, secrets and acts of violence. It is the merciless portrayal of moments and illusions in a postmodern, patchwork family. A contemporary masterpiece." —Sueddeutsche Zeitung

"Zeruya Shalev narrates the story of a broken family and a fragile country. Fate is the conflict of two women, one old and the other young. The perspective of their story changes in each chapter." —Die Welt

"Zeruya Shalev’s new novel Fate, so clever and intense, deals with wrong decisions and unfortunate concatenations. This novel is an event. Fate is not only a great family story, but also a political novel. It is about Israel's founding and struggle for existence, about the meaning of war and terror. The author digs deep into the past of her country and also sheds light on the current situation." —Der Tagesspiegel

"[A] exhilaratingly narrated novel. By so clearly attributing the fate of Atara's family to Israel's political history, the author is giving the story something ominously inescapable." —Die Zeit

"Fate is an extremely provocative read, with many political and religious references. The skillfully crafted multiple reflections of its characters make the narration a very sophisticated one. Zeruya Shalev's new novel is both a funereal song and a drama of freedom, and it fits well with her previous work, which in tasteful abundance tells of touching love adventures weighed down by sorrow." —TAZ