Strangers with the Same Dream
From the Man Booker Longlisted author of Far to Go
Published on 9. August 2018
Book
Hardback
384 pages
978-1-4722-2511-5 (ISBN)
Description
From Alison Pick, Booker longlisted author of FAR TO GO comes a suspenseful, dystopian reimagining of the founding of a kibbutz in 1920s Palestine, for readers of WHEN I LIVED IN MODERN TIMES, THE HANDMAID'S TALE or THE POWER.
'We came into their valley at dawn'. From three vastly different points of view, Alison Pick relates the story of a group of Jewish pioneers, many escaping violent homelands, who have come together to found a kibbutz on a patch of land that will later become Israel. With tightly controlled intensity, Pick takes us into three very different minds to show us how a utopian dream is punctured by messy human entanglements. Yet this is also the story of the land itself (present day Israel and Palestine), revealing the way the newcomers chose to ignore the fact that their valley was already populated, home to a people that the pioneers did not want to see.
In writing of extraordinary, at times heartbreaking power, Pick has created unforgettable characters, haunted by ghosts and compromised by unbearable secrets. The novel's shocking conclusion is a tour de force, the work of a writer uniquely in control of her craft and with an extraordinary insight into the innermost workings of the human heart.
'We came into their valley at dawn'. From three vastly different points of view, Alison Pick relates the story of a group of Jewish pioneers, many escaping violent homelands, who have come together to found a kibbutz on a patch of land that will later become Israel. With tightly controlled intensity, Pick takes us into three very different minds to show us how a utopian dream is punctured by messy human entanglements. Yet this is also the story of the land itself (present day Israel and Palestine), revealing the way the newcomers chose to ignore the fact that their valley was already populated, home to a people that the pioneers did not want to see.
In writing of extraordinary, at times heartbreaking power, Pick has created unforgettable characters, haunted by ghosts and compromised by unbearable secrets. The novel's shocking conclusion is a tour de force, the work of a writer uniquely in control of her craft and with an extraordinary insight into the innermost workings of the human heart.
Reviews / Votes
Painfully topical, this raw and sensual novel is one of the most skillful examples of multiple simultaneous viewpoints (and in the process, characterisation) I've ever encountered, its perfectly meted revelations heightening the personal tragedy and collective moral conflict. Outstanding -- Isabel Costello * Literary Sofa * A riveting, timely novel that takes an essential moment in Jewish history and allows it to blaze into being in all its strange and glorious complexity. Alison Pick has a way of reinventing the historical novel again and again -- Jenny Offil, author of Dept. of Speculation Explores the dark side of utopian longing with terrific sensitivity, intelligence and attention to beauty. Alison Pick is one of the wisest and most compassionate of writers -- Lauren Groff, author of FATES AND FURIES Stunning. On one level, a fascinating novel about early kibbutz life. More deeply, this is thought-provoking fiction that asks important questions about idealism, privacy, equality, power, corruption and war -- Miriam Toews, author of ALL MY PUNY SORROWS A riveting, timely novel that takes an essential moment in Jewish history and allows it to blaze into being in all its strange and glorious complexity. Alison Pick has a way of reinventing the historical novel again and again -- Jenny Offill, author of Dept. of Speculation STRANGERS WITH THE SAME DREAM explores the dark side of utopian longing with terrific sensitivity, intelligence and attention to beauty. Alison Pick is one of the wisest and most compassionate of writers -- Lauren Groff, author of Fates and FuriesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Headline Publishing Group
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
645 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4722-2511-5 (9781472225115)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2018
1st Edition
Tinder Press
€3.99
Available for download
Person
Alison Pick is the author of FAR TO GO, longlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize, and winner of the Canadian Jewish Book Award for fiction; and a memoir, BETWEEN GODS, which was shortlisted for the Wingate Prize. She is also the author of two collections of poetry, and a novel, THE SWEET EDGE, all of which were published to wide acclaim. She lives in Toronto, Canada.