Vendor
	Liepman Literary Agency Marc Koralnik
Original language
Hebrew
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https://www.moshesakal.com/

THE DIAMOND SETTER

Moshe Sakal

Inspired by true events, this best-selling Israeli novel traces a complex web of love triangles, homoerotic tensions, and family secrets across generations and borders, illuminating diverse facets of life in the Middle East.

The uneventful life of a jeweler from Tel Aviv changes abruptly in 2011 after Fareed, a handsome young man from Damascus, crosses illegally into Israel and makes his way to the ancient port city of Jaffa in search of his roots. In his pocket is a piece of a famous blue diamond known as "Sabakh." Intending to return the diamond to its rightful owner, Fareed is soon swept up in Tel Aviv's vibrant gay scene, and a turbulent protest movement. He falls in love with both an Israeli soldier and his boyfriend--the narrator of this book--and reveals the story of his family's past: a tale of forbidden love beginning in the 1930s that connects Fareed and the jeweler.

Following Sabakh's winding path, THE DIAMOND SETTER ties present-day events to a forgotten time before the establishment of the State of Israel divided the region. Moshe Sakal's poignant mosaic of characters, locales, and cultures encourages us to see the Middle East beyond its violent conflicts.

MOSHE SAKAL novels include the best-selling YOLANDA, shortlisted for the Sapir Prize (the Israeli Booker). He was awarded the title of Honorary Fellow in Writing by the University of Iowa, the Eshkol prize for his work, and a Fulbright grant. He has published in major Israeli outlets including Ha'aretz as well as in Le Monde (France) and Forward (USA). His novel SISTER, was was longlisted for the Sapir prize. Until recently, he headed the Literary Division of the Israeli Center for Books and Libraries.

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Book Published 2018-03-01 by Other Press

Comments

It is also where a nameless young writer finds himself working after coming back from a long stay in New York. At first, he doesn't think he will like his new job with his uncle, but then he finds that it is just the place for a young writer to be a place full of strange and heroic stories, told by uncle Menashe and by his customers; a place where history comes alive, exotic places are described, and secrets come out into the open. A wonderfully-written novel, sweeping and engrossing. Ynet (Yedioth Ahronoth): The Diamond Setter comprises tangled family stories, a character (or characters) that may be seen as representing the author, and a number of mysteries that are deftly revealed at a gradual pace. Sakal leads his readers down the story's winding paths, stimulating their appetite for reading. The Diamond Setter is a novel bathed in mystery, with a plot involving a diamond that originated in 17th century India It is also a story about two families, about passions and family secrets. Sakal has devised a fascinating family mythology that spans many years before reaching present-day Tel Aviv Jaffa in the summer of 2011, at the height of the social protest movement. As in all his work, here too Sakal's great love of storytelling is evident. Read more (Hebrew): Click Here

Well written, masterfully translated by Jessica Cohen, and rewards rereading.

The 11 new books you will want to binge-read this month: The best-selling Israeli novel, translated to English by Jessica Cohen, depicts queer life in the Middle East by following the life of Fareed in Tel Aviv. Read more...

what's best is the unselfconsciously sensuous writing (with a range of sexuality easily accepted) and the beautifully depicted sense of a time gone by when borders were open and Jew and Arab commingled.

Sakal's best-selling Israeli novel arrives stateside. It tells the story of Fareed, a young man from Damascus who's caught up in the Tel Aviv gay scene. Sakal presents a vital depiction of queer life in the Middle East, a misunderstood intersection of identities Read more...

Richly evocative.

A kaleidoscopic journey into the Middle East of the present and the not-so-distant past As the mystery of the diamond unfolds, characters' paths cross in unexpected waysreminding the reader that we are all, in some way or another, connected.

There are sparkling, beautiful passages in this novel The Diamond Setter is very relevant: Jaffa and Tel Aviv represent a modern city's role in justice, the quest for equality, and continuing rationality in a very irrational area of the world. Read more...

Recommended and praiseworthy.

With beautiful and loving language, Sakal looks through the eyes of [his characters] to tell a story of Jaffa and Damascus in the early part of the last century, and today. The pages exude the aromas of a vibrant life that has since vanished.

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Here-Are-Bill-Goldsteins-Book-Choices-for-April-22-480457651.html

If you enjoy richly plotted intergenerational stories inspired by true events, Moshe Sakal's The Diamond Setter offers bountiful pleasures a gloriously immersive journey into different cultures.