Don't Call it Night

Set in Tel-Kedar, a small Israeli settlement in the Negev Desert, during the summer of 1989, Don't Call It Night tells of Theo, a sixty-year-old civil engineer, and No'a, a school teacher fifteen years his junior. They are lovers whose longtime relationship is slowly disintegrating: his passivity irritates her; her energy threatens him. When Emanuel Orvietto, a pupil of No'a's, dies under suspicious circumstances - drug overdose or suicide? - the whole town is thrown into turmoil. His father, Avraham, a mysterious character who may be an international arms dealer, arrives from Africa for the funeral and to establish a drug rehab center in town. Though his promised financial support never arrives, he is able to cast a hypnotic spell over the community. After Orvietto chooses No'a to run the center, the conflict between her and Theo deepens - as does their love for each other. Brilliant for its depiction of the eccentric denizens of the closely knit, well-nigh incestuous town, Don't Call It Night is a compelling novel of ambition, compassion, and the vicissitudes of love.