Mandelman … cast[s] the often grim news from the Middle East in a newly revealing and humanizing light. –Jim Bartley, The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has shaped the consciousness of a generation, but never before has it been brought to life in such vivid and telling prose. Part Tim O'Brien and part Bernard Malamud, Avner Mandelman’s Talking to the Enemy ranges from boisterously entertaining tales of domestic squabbles to dark narratives from disillusioned soldiers. Awarded the Jewish Book Award when it was published in Canada and supplemented with recent stories, Talking to the Enemy is the powerful American debut of an international favorite.

Pity draws the reader through the descending layers of horror of an Israeli soldier who is party to an assassination attempt gone terribly wrong. In Terror a man recalls a traumatic childhood incident that taught him family comes first–before justice, before fear. On a lighter note, Mish-Mash is a comical tornado set off when a winning lottery ticket is discovered in a less-than-conventional family, best described as Sholem Aleichem writes Peyton Place on speed ( Montreal Gazette ). Underneath their often brash exteriors, Mandelman’s characters search for reconciliation and fulfillment in a land where conflict is a part of everyday life.

Born in Israel in 1947, Avner Mandelman has for four decades split his time between Paris, California and Canada. His stories have been widely published throughout Israel and North America, including in Best American Short Stories and the Pushcart Prize anthology.