THE SOUTHERN ROOM

A novel about mothers, motherhood, the dark cost of an obsession, and a woman caught between childhood and adulthood deciding to live life on her own terms. THE SOUTHERN ROOM is a powerful novel about the choices we make in love and life and the cost of that freedom.

Tamar lives in the Northern Room of an apartment with her roommate, Maya, who occupies the Southern Room. But the apartment they share in Tel Aviv comes with a legacywhoever lives in the Southern Room meets someone, gets engaged, and moves out. Tamar dreams of the day that it will be her turn in the Southern Room, and when she meets Ari, she thinks she's found her one and only. Except, when Tamar falls pregnant, she discovers that Ari has a wifeand he's not going to leave his wife for Tamar, because his wife is pregnant too.

Thus begins Tamar's journey into single motherhood against the backdrop of a difficult childhood and a troubled relationship with her parents, especially her overbearing mother. The pregnancy feels like the first thing that Tamar has ever done for herself. And while her relationship with Ari devolves into something unhealthy, bordering on the obsessive, there is one thing that Tamar clings toher child. Against the backdrop of air-raid sirens in Tel Aviv and a coffee shop that Tamar stalks in the hope of running into Ari, THE SOUTHERN ROOM is a novel about a woman who decides to live life on her own terms - in essence, motherhood becomes her escape, her choice, her "Southern Room."

Adva Bolle is an actress and screenwriter for many of Israel's most popular drama series and a content consultant for the drama department of Israel's "Kan 11" broadcasting corporation. She is currently artist in residence at the Artists' Residence in Herzliya for the years 2023-2026, and winner of the Best Leading Actress award at the prestigious ANTA festival in 2018. Her linked short story collection, CITY POOL (Kinneret, 2019) was longlisted for the 2020 Sapir Prize. She is a mother of two and lives in Herzliya, Israel.