From a striking new voice comes a novel tracing the lives of four American women who are part of a unique Jewish tradition in their coastal village in Northern Israel: they prepare and dress women for burial, as they grow in friendship and marriages, learn to accept death, and to appreciate the sorrows and wonders of life.
In the seaside village of Peleg, four American women have emigrated to Israel for very different reasons. Lauren has come for the love of her Israeli husband, yet misses her life in Boston every single day, resenting the sunny "land of reptiles and rocks." Seeking a new life after divorce, her vivacious friend Emily follows. Aviva, brought to Israel years earlier by intelligence work, has raised a family and now lost a son to war. And Rachel, a bright young college student, comes in search of adventure.
As their intertwined stories unfold, each woman finds the joys promised by the beauty of the land, in new life, first love, motherhood, and...