A comic novel for fans of Adelle Waldman about a tech startup that turns sand into rain clouds from Sami Rohr prize winner Iddo Gefen.

Our story opens with Mrs. Lilienblum discovered drinking a martini in a crater in the Israeli desert. Eli, her adult son, tries to understand what happened to his wacky mother, while he also tackles the legend of a missing hiker named McMurphy, and whether he might be in love with Tamara, a visitor to his family’s hostel on the edge of a crater.

The story races forward as the Lilienblum family builds a company around Eli’s mother’s invention and makes comedy out of startup culture, the obsession with company valuation and funding, the secrets families keep, romantic and family love–all with humor, warmth and compassion.

Rights Sold:

China: Thinkingdom Media Group; USA: Astra

Reviews:

"Gefen deftly balances smart and sometimes hilarious scenes in his warmhearted exploration of one family's tangled dynamics wrapped in a sharp satire of technology startup culture. [A] comic masterpiece . . . the novel's many savvy moments . . . reveal its undeniable humanity and make it such a delight." —Shelf Awareness

"In a fitting follow-up to his debut story collection, JERUSALEM BEACH (2021), winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, Gefen explores a speculative premise in a mordantly comic tone... A high-spirited fable." —Kirkus

“Iddo Gefen has produced a marvelous novel — wise, surreal, funny and a fascinating story. MRS. LILIENBLUM'S CLOUD FACTORY has traces of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, mixed with the wise men of Chelm, and a dash of SUNSET BOULEVARD. A spectacular achievement.” —Max Gross, author of THE LOST SHTETL

"One could argue that Iddo Gefen’s beguiling novel is nothing less than an allegory for a startup nation with its feet in the sand, its head in the clouds, and its midsection up for grabs. But Mr Geffen cares too much about his characters— especially the lost, loving, dysfunctional family guarding their secrets on the edge of the desert — to turn them into symbols. Like all true writers, he knows that stories can do everything — except take the place of life. That his characters discover this for themselves is a testament to Mr. Gefen’s uncanny gifts and his novel’s enchanting power." —Jonathan Rosen, author of THE BEST MINDS: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions