Limassol

by Yishai Sarid

Translated from the original Hebrew by Barbara Harshav

A high-ranking official in the Israeli secret service is handed a new brief: go undercover as an aspiring novelist to befriend Daphna, an Israeli writer, and her friend Hani, a renowned Palestinian poet. The target is Hani’s son Yotam, a wanted terrorist leader. As the undercover agent becomes ingrained in Daphna and Hani’s lives, his own well-entrenched sense of right and wrong is clouded. The writers have awoken feelings he thought were long dead. Yet his sense of duty and the habits of a lifetime in the military propel the agent to go ahead with his deceptions and lay a trap for Yotam.

Playing upon the elderly poet’s sentiments, the agent convinces him to arrange a meeting with his son in Limassol, the seaside town where the Israeli secret service will be waiting for their chance to assassinate Yotam. But at the final moment the agent will have to choose between his professional loyalties and the long dormant feelings his new friendships have awoken.

A spellbinding novel that takes the reader on a tumultuous journey through the conflicted Israeli mind.

(From Publisher).

Yishai Sarid studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and received a graduate degree in public administration from Harvard University. He works as an attorney and contributes articles to the Hebrew press. Limassol is his second novel.

The haunting novel of the Israeli author Yishai Sarid shows the dilemma of the Israeli society between fear of terrorism and moral integrity. The novel provides many new insights into Israel's society and the Israeli-Arab conflict.