Ten Thousand Lovers

Edeet Ravel dispels some myths — particularly the myth of Tzahal, the Israeli army — but she does so with finesse and intelligence, and with boundless love for the country and the marvellous Hebrew language.

- Le Monde, Paris

Ravel is unflinching in her exploration of the moral and emotional conflicts of her characters and of the country in which they live, but the light she shines is as compassionate as it is clear-eyed, illuminating each character's full humanity and revealing the beating heart of the state of Israel as well as its wounded spirit… her seemingly simple and direct sentences often resonate with myriad meanings, possibilities and ironies… The etymological forays provide fascinating, insightful glimpses into the development of the Israeli psyche… This is a brave and beautiful book. It is a heartbreaking book. It could have been called Ten Thousand Dreams, or Ten Thousand Hopes, but Ten Thousand Lovers is best, for this book is at heart a love story. Read it for that, for the pure pleasure of it. But read it also to understand why love -- even transcendent love -- is sometimes not enough.

- Nancy Richler, Globe & Mail, Toronto

Edeet Ravel’s debut novel, Ten Thousand Lovers, is a stunning book, a must-read for anyone who likes a love story and who cares about justice, humanity, and the state of the world.

- Quill And Quire, Montreal

Ten Thousand Lovers weaves a beguiling spell that is equal parts darkness and light...[Ravel's] prose rings with such verisimilitude that even Israel's strongest defenders will be disturbed by its details... The amazing thing is, even if you are some distance away along the spectrum, it doesn't seem to matter. Like a self-enclosed world, her book is a thing of integrity, true to itself and so deeply felt that it somehow manages to bridge the gap.

- Forward, New York

In her lyrically tough-minded first novel, Edeet Ravel reminds us again of the limitations of nonfiction. No matter how many books and articles about, say, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict you may read, you cannot know it from the inside out… Unless, of course, you have the good fortune to stumble upon a fiction with the deceptive depth and complexity of Ten Thousand Lovers.

- Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale

The strength of [Ami and Lily's] affair is deeply moving... Lily's narrative alternates bewteen memoir and linguistic meditations on ancient and modern Hebrew. It is in these passages, conveyed in a quiet and almost lyrical voice, that the full tragic dimension of Israel's character emerges."

- New York Times

Determined to avoid stereotype, Edeet Ravel succeeds in sketching the intriguing portrait of a skillful interrogator… The beauty of the conversations is that while [Ami and Lily] are in bed, in the living room, on hikes, at parties or sharing a joint, hovering over them is the hideous specter of torture… Ravel’s strength lies not only in fantasizing about the beauties of Israel, but in allowing the menacing and the terrible to become part of her portrait of Israeli life. This is a wonderful book, compelling not only for its literary merit but because it expands our grasp of what 'Israeli' means."

- Haaretz, Israel

This is a powerful, provocative and poignant debut novel. A love story haunted by the endless tragedy of day-to-day living in the world’s most intractable trouble spot.

- Canberra Times, Australia

A shrewd and compassionate storyteller.

- Sunday Herald, U.K.

Ravel weaves a rich tapestry of love… her knowledge of history and language infuses the book with veracity and vividness.

- The Chronicle Herald, Halifax

A small gem of a novel

- Hamilton Jewish News, Ontario

I was hooked…well-written and gripping.

- Jewish Voice and Herald, Rhode Island

An entrancing tale of love, language and politics.

- Times Colonist, British Columbia

Compelling, emotionally searing…Lovers is a terribly sad story, a story about loss of innocence, of idealism gone awry, of battered psyches, of hope turned to despair. It is not so much an indictment of Israel as it is a search for the question (from Twelfth Night), ‘What country, friends, is this?’

- Ottawa Jewish Bulletin

Ten Thousand Lovers captures the beauty of the vagaries of contemporary life in Israel. It portrays, in poignant fashion, the impact of the never-ending cycle of violence on the psyche of the average Israeli citizen... the novel is a mirror into the soul of modern day Israel.

- Jewish Book World

Passionate and troubling...Highly recommended for libraries and discussion groups.

- Library Journal

The textured personal story rises above its political context like a melody soaring beyond the steady rhythm pulsing below it.

- Book List

I read far into the night, the graphic descriptions surrounding life in Israel where love is ravishing, beautiful, but politically not easy to cling onto. This book is most atmospheric, resounding and a compulsive piece of writing. A book I will cherish forever.

- Bangor Chronicle, North Wales

The Last Rain

Exquisitely formed. Placing the narrative voice at child-level is a brilliant stroke

- Anne Carson

In this unique and beautiful work, the innocence of children growing up in a would-be utopia is contrasted with the world of adults, in which adultery, a teen crime, and the resulting suicide break through the cracks of these best laid plans. The Last Rain, by turns humorous and heartbreaking, is the most powerful literary evocation yet of kibbutz life, as seen through a child's eyes.

- Shimon Levy

The art of this novel comes from the complex relationship between Dori's reflections and documentary snippets – newspaper articles, minutes from kibbutz meetings, journals – that mirror her concerns. [Dori’s narrative is] absolutely magical, reminding us of what it was like to experience the small dramatic tragedies and the glorious joys of childhood . Unlike the extreme precocity of some fictional children, Dori's voice and experience are utterly realistic.

We can see how she mimics the conflicted reactions of the adults in her responses to military dangers, sexual relationships, religious orthodoxy, Arab neighbours and the all-important concept of “sharing.”' ... The Last Rain defies classification and gives us an unusual reading experience, an intriguing portrait of a kibbutz, and the lovely voice of Dori.

- The Globe & Mail

Ravel captures the voice and inner life of a small child…The reader, even one who likes to read in a linear way, can't help getting caught up in Ravel's labyrinth… Dori's innocence, like the idealism of those who founded the kibbutz movement, acts as a counterpoint to the less-than-perfect reality of the world to which Ravel takes us.

- Montreal Gazette

A loving portrait [of the kibbutz] ... This is a book I will dip into over and over again.

- Comments, National Post

Held

Edeet Ravel once again proves herself an adept manipulator of difficult material….This is rich, thought-provoking stuff.

- Quill and Quire

There is a sense of desperation and emergency that fills every corner of Held, bestselling novelist Edeet Ravel’s novel of suspense and exploration of the Stockholm Syndrome.

- January Magazine

Held is dramatic and full of suspense…an excellent and timely young adult novel. Highly recommended.

- CM Magazine

Held is both riveting and surreal... Ravel’s novel quickly grips readers, first with the nightmarish topic and secondly by developing a strong association with Chloe. Chloe survives her ordeal in part through her journaling, which is how the story in revealed to the reader. The formation of a strong bond with her captor is other reason Chloe survives her captivity. Ravel intricately develops Chloe’s relationship with her captor.

Throughout her imprisonment, Chloe remains strong and lucid, an amazing feat considering her situation. What will happen when, suddenly she is free, reunited with her mother, and surrounded by the CIA who want to catch her kidnapper . . . and Chloe wants him to remain free?

…An added feature to Held, is the secondary story Ravel tells. Intermixed with Chloe’s journal entries are facebook entries from Chloe’s best friend Angie and news reports from her mother begging the people who kidnapped Chloe to release her. The newspaper reports and the facebook entries give the novel a sense of reality and connect it to the reality of the social community. Held is well worth the read.

- Edward’s Magazine

Clever, compelling, and consistent… Held delivers a touching story about a girl in a bad situation.

- booksbypamelathompson.com

Ravel supplies a level of detail that will make readers believe every word. Even the chapter breaks – glimpses from news reports, Facebook posts, etc., of the outside world—bring additional sophistication to this smart, daring, romantic drama.

- Daniel Kraus, Booklist

A clever, engaging page-turner... exceptionally quick and imaginative.

- Toronto Star

Award-winning Canadian-Israeli novelist Edeet Ravel dishes up an intriguing psychological thriller in this young adult novel about an American teen who is kidnapped during a summer stay in Greece.

…Coverage of Chloe's disappearance in the American press lends credence to her captor's claim that her abduction is intended to secure legal retrials for friends convicted of terrorism by a bigoted prosecutor's unethical methods. The Free Chloe Campaign, created on Facebook by Chloe's best friend, hires lawyers to represent the imprisoned men and its success in court parallels Chloe's growing attachment to her jailer.

Chloe's abductor insists that her love for him is a captivity-induced mirage and uncertainty about whose version of reality is accurate challenges readers' tendency to trust first-person narrators such as Chloe. It is unclear whether she is the victim of a well-intentioned man driven to a desperate act or the prey of a sophisticated sexual predator. Although the book denies readers… emotional closure, the questions it raises about the conflict between reality and perception are a meaningful substitute.

- ForeWord Reviews

Your Sad Eyes and Unforgettable Mouth

Perhaps it is strange to speak of pleasure when reviewing a book about the children of Holocaust survivors. Yet Ravel covers this territory in such a nuanced, compassionate, insightful and gently humorous way that this novel, along with the inevitable underlying pain, provides exactly that…Ravel does an excellent job of bringing all the characters to life, making us care about them, even ache for them. This is a sign of her great skill, as is the complexity and depth of her characters. Maya, in addition to being the daughter of a survivor, is a young lesbian struggling with the emerging awareness that she is sexually different from those around her. She lives with a mother and grandmother, who together constitute a matriarchal world for Maya that models for her the power and enduring strength of women… What shines through this wonderful novel is not the wreckage, but the incredibly impressive, one might even say heroic, impetus toward life on the part of both the survivors and their children. All the characters are deeply burdened, but beautiful. Wounded, but wonderful. And at the end of this heartbreaking but funny, readable book, what remains with you as much as the horror and grief is the almost infinite human capacity for recovery, resilience, hope and beauty.

- The Globe and Mail, Toronto

A lyrical, passionate and subtle account of the challenges faced by children of survivors, whose parents are wobbly and disoriented but still courageous and full of love.

- Lawrence Hill

Pure entertainment - a true novel-novel with all that we expect from the form: passion, drama and life- changing secrets that span decades. At the sa me time, it is a thought-provoking commentary on the legacy of the Holocaust.

- Montreal Gazette

Ravel's writing style is beautiful. I often found myself rereading a sentence simply to enjoy her choice of words. While the subject matter is a serious one, Maya's life is full of hope and humour.

- Bookworm Casings

In the follow-up novel to her critically acclaimed Tel Aviv Trilogy, Ravel unravels a “star-crossed saga” whose language breathes with an innocent and sometimes haunting wisdom, one which can only come from someone who has inherited a shared memory and deep appreciation of what it must have been like to be there.

- National Post

If the truest humour comes from pain, this book is laugh-out-loud funny, while at the same time so sad it makes you feel like you've swallowed stone. Wonderful, lovable, damaged characters. Addressing the unanswerable question - how to go on after something like the Holocaust, something so comprehensively negating and destructive? And the only answer is, you do go on, however broken and isolated you might be. Beautiful.

- Goodreads

Powerful… compelling

- Edmonton Journal

In this beautifully written novel, Ravel traces the effects of the holocaust on the children of survivors. One of these is Maya, now a middle-aged woman. A funeral leads Maya to reflect upon her adolescence and the events that led her to engage in a bizarre cover-up with other young people. As a teenager growing up in the late 1960s, Maya is mortified by her mother, Fanya. Fanya, who works at a local dry cleaner in the Montreal neighbourhood of Côte-des-Neiges, discusses her wartime experiences with practically everyone she meets while expecting her daughter to live a carefree existence. Brainy Maya tries to keep her suffocating mother and everyone else at bay, but then she meets Rosie “whose household was as mad as my own. Even the form of madness was the same. Like my mother, Rosie’s parents were both holy and unappeasable.” Maya soon falls in love with Rosie, who is generous in her affections. Less generous are a pair of brothers, Patrick and Anthony. Patrick and Anthony are also members of the looseknit Montreal Jewish community and the children of a Holocaust survivor. Like most young people, Maya, Rosie, Patrick, and Anthony are searching for freedom (or at least oblivion) in rock music, drugs, rebellion, and sexual liberation. Unable to find what they are looking for, they instead recreate on a smaller scale the tragedy and burdens of their families. Your Sad Eyes and Unforgettable Mouth stands out for its fascinating characters, dry humour, and ability to capture an era.

- Nairne Holtz, Annotated Bibliography of Canadian Literature with Lesbian Content

It’s 1968, Vietnam is in flames, and in Montreal, the weight of another war draws two girls together. Both are children of Holocaust survivors, but they deal with this awful legacy in very different ways. Ravel, a PhD in Jewish studies, nails the historical underpinnings and offers a truly sensitive read.

- Chatelaine

The Saver

Fern, 17, returns home from school one afternoon to find out that her mother has been taken to the hospital. When the teen finally gets there, she is told that her mother has died of a massive heart attack. Fern immediately takes stock of the situation and realizes that she now has to make her own way in the world, as her only living relative is an uncle she’s never met, and who was recently released from prison. Fern takes over her mother’s house-cleaning jobs, but knows that she can’t earn enough to support herself so she takes a job as a janitor, where she can get free rent. Although initially fearful, she quickly gains confidence in her abilities and adds two other part-time jobs. Nonetheless, she feels overwhelmed and exhausted all the time, until Uncle Jack shows up and helps out with some of the work she’s been doing. Written as a series of letters to an imaginary friend on another planet, this is a compelling story of determination and the will to survive. Readers will sympathize with Fern’s situation, especially in this time of serious economic instability.

- School Library Journal

The Saver is a satisfying read with sober subject matter at its heart…Most memorable is Fern's earnest, honest and cheeringly satirical voice. The "worm-beige" of the social worker's outfit; Fern's fantastical imaginings of Xanoth's planet, which are incisive critiques of our own; her deadly descriptions of some of her stranger tenants - it all mingles brightly in a story of a brave, lonely girl who manages to make a community for herself.

- Toronto Star

Edeet Ravel has made a name for herself with a much-lauded trilogy for adult readers (Ten Thousand Lovers, A Wall of Light and Look for Me) and the well-received Pauline trilogy for the middle-grade reader. The Saver marks Ravel’s debut as a writer for teens, and a splendid debut it is, in part because her chief protagonist is such a brilliantly evoked character.
This is an epistolary novel, a series of chapter-length letters written by 17-year-old Fern to an imaginary friend, Xanoth, who lives on a distant planet. The first letter begins with the salutation "Hi Xanoth," and an explanation of sorts, for Fern’s correspondence: "OK, I know you aren’t real. I’m not a psycho or anything.
"But I like thinking about you. I like thinking about your violet eyes and how beautiful your planet is. I love how it’s so clean and perfect, there isn’t even a word for garbage in your language."
Now, Fern needs Xanoth more than ever, as this letter makes clear. Fern has come home from school, to the cockroach-ridden Montreal apartment she shares with her aboriginal mother, and been told by a neighbour that her mother had been taken to hospital in an ambulance. By the time Fern gets to the hospital, her mother has died.
Fern, underage, nevertheless completes the paperwork to donate her mother’s body to McGill University. This is the first of many decisions she takes; the second is to quit school, where she has been relegated to the "dummy" class. Quite alone, isolated except for her imaginary friend and her cat, Beauty, Fern moves into survival mode. Robinson Crusoe-like, she embarks upon the tasks that will ensure her survival. It is a steady shoring-up of a life, documented with great specificity: The quantities of food that Fern buys and eats are accounted for with great precision, buttressing Fern’s assertion that no one would want to have much to do with a person like her.
Fern’s letters to Xanoth unwittingly describe her extraordinary grit as she takes on new jobs, several of them simultaneously, that will allow her to live and eat and, ultimately, to grow into herself and leave an island of self-doubt and self-hatred.
In her final communiqué to Xanoth, she writes, "I probably won’t have much time to write, Xanoth. There’s a lot going on now in my life, and I need to concentrate on Earth and the people in it."

- The Globe & Mail, Toronto

Seventeen-year old Fern returns home from school and discovers that her mother has been rushed to the hospital. She dies before Fern even has a chance to say goodbye. For a teen with a loving support network, this would be a devastating emotional experience. For Fern, who lives an existence of extreme isolation, this is a catastrophe of a different nature. She must find a way to survive; this means lying about her age and keeping her mother’s death a secret.
Ravel succeeds in creating a wonderfully three-dimensional character even while Fern’s thoughts and insights are understated and reserved. Sometimes Fern does share her loneliness and these instances are especially powerful. Fern is utterly believable and even though she is more marginalized than most young adult heroines, she is smart and easy to sympathize with. Ravel slowly introduces some stability and emotional support into Fern’s life and shows that she is too strong and adaptable to give in to despair.

- Canadian Children’s Book News

I loved [The Saver]; it was a joy, both fresh and deeply moving. I am truly a fan.

- Teresa Toten, Governor General’s Award Jury Member

A Wall of Light

A thoughtful and heartfelt novelistic meditation on Israel's past and present…like the great Israeli novelist Amos Oz, Ravel employs the contemporary family unit as the ideal metaphor for the Jewish state... Ravel is impressive for her willingness to say in unadorned language what she so powerfully feels… The Vronskys are finally heroic because they make the best of a variety of bad situations, and the book goes so far as to hope that Israelis and Palestinians, working together, can do the same… This is an idealistic vision, but not a naive one. Ravel recognizes the cynicism and anger felt by those who have suffered, and her valuable novel offers the simple wish that they will feel love, too – for each other and for life itself.

- The Globe and Mail, Toronto

The first installment in a trilogy, [Ten Thousand Lovers] knocked me out. As did Guelph-based Ravel's second novel, Look For Me. She completes the trilogy with the Giller-nominated A Wall of Light… [the novel is] about Israel, Ravel's often frustrating, always dangerous, but much beloved country. Each of Ravel's novels in the trio can be read alone. Still, while they are only vaguely linked, one builds upon the other until the whole is a rich tapestry of what life is like in a country called Israel.

- Sun Times, Ontario

A Wall of Light, establishes Ravel as an original writer with a unique perspective on Israel, the place of her birth... Ravel has a knack for crisp and direct dialogue, and Sonya's observations are poetic and perceptive... In this modern-day fairy tale, instead of a wicked witch, evil takes the form of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territory, with its endless cycles of violence and retribution. Ravel… skillfully juxtaposes the incompetence and stupidity that this situation engenders with genuine acts of love: the unexpected kindness of a stranger, the loyalty of a friend, the generosity of a newfound lover.

- Canadian Press

Skillfully juggling the weight of the multi-layered past with the bright intensity of the present, Ravel has written a book that shimmers with suspense, mystery and wit. Tell your friends.

- Toronto Star

The last of a trilogy (after Ten Thousand Lovers, 2003, etc.) portrays the emerging character of Israel through the relatively low-key, emotionally limpid diary entries of three characters from different generations… Handling a tricky juxtaposition of three disparate lives with grace and wit, Ravel shows her characters forging a country out of trauma."

- Kirkus

Like its predecessors, this concluding volume focuses on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the toll it takes on human lives and especially on relationships. Here, however, the three narrators weave the story together most effectively, showing that while war is a destructive force, love is powerful as well. Ravel writes poignantly about survival and hope in the midst of tragedy. Recommended for all libraries.

- Library Journal

Pauline Series

Edeet Ravel's The Thrilling Life of Pauline de Lammermoor and The Mysterious Adventures of Pauline Bovary (Raincoast, $11.95 each, ages 10 to 14) are a delightful addition to the girl diary genre. While most Princess Diary variants sport teens who are mundanely self-absorbed, Ravel gives us a heroine who has her share of self-interest but is an astute reader/ writer whose naivete is balanced by her attention to the advice in You too Can Write a Great Novel! In Pauline Bovary, the second book of this new series (a third is set for release this fall), Pauline has typical teen "problems" - her mom is dating an online Greek boyfriend, her dad's being courted by a really old woman of 56, and her best friend has moved away. Then there are her love problems, which peak at a "heroes" party Pauline attends as "John Milton on the weekends." Luckily, writing her own novel and reading Madame Bovary as she lives through all this turmoil gives Pauline new insight into the difference between imagination and delusions. With the Pauline stories, Edeet Ravel shows herself to be a dab hand at young adult lit too.

- Toronto Star

This is a funny one. It will leave you, as Pauline might say, ROFL. (Those of you who don’t keep up with trends the way I do might not know that that is a texting abbreviation for “rolling on the floor laughing.”) The first funny thing is a running adjective joke. Pauline, like many young writers, is drunk with her discovery of the thesaurus. Thus her mother speaks with a “grumpy, peevish and nihilistic” voice. Damp laundry left in the washing machine smells “stinking, putrid, vomity and ignoble.” Pauline has an off-centre take on the world. Her narrative is rich with delightful one-liners and not one of them is generic. “If I lived in a place called the Virgin Islands I would very simply kill myself.” She’s honest and self-aware. “I felt a bit less angry but I didn’t want to show it. It’s embarrassing if you feel less angry too fast, after you’ve really made a point of feeling mad.” The best vignettes are the weirdest. Pauline’s Grandma invents a birthday party game called “Mother, the Witch Stole Monday” that is so peculiar, it can only have come from real life. You just can’t make this stuff up. I’d pretty much go anywhere with Pauline. It is worth the whole book to find out why she kissed the not-boyfriend Yoshi in the storage room of the food bank where they were both volunteering. Pauline is funny and generous, crazy about words, clear-eyed (except when she’s totally off-base), loyal to her friends, and tolerant of her parents. These two books are cheeky, stylish, and, most of all, intelligent. In this trendspotter’s opinion, they are also very good VFM (value for money) .

- Sarah Ellis, Quill & Quire

As the summer begins, Pauline Corelli-Bloom, nearly 14, has decided what she is going to do with the rest of her life. After short-lived dreams of being an artist and a pianist have evaporated, she's decided a writer's life is for her. In fact, she's "going to be a world-famous, bestselling novelist." And in case we are concerned about the loftiness of her aspirations, she reassures us: "Don't worry, I'm not on my own here. I have expert advice at the tip of my fingers. As of this morning, I am the proud owner of You Too Can Write a Novel! By Zane Burbank III." The novel that emerges is this novel, a felicitous conceit by an author who has made her mark as an award-winning novelist in the adult field (Ten Thousand Lovers andA Wall of Light ). Pauline's novel, as the title might imply, is flamboyantly dramatic, involving a splintered best-friendship, moving back and forth between her separated parents' homes (and passing judgment on her mother's boyfriends), the general angst and ennui of early adolescence as experienced by our heroine and, of course, a school performance of Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor . Ravel's touch is light but spot on; the prospect of a series -- the next book, The Mysterious Adventures of Pauline Bovary , is in the works -- is good news for young adult readers.

- Globe & Mail

The Mysterious Adventures of Pauline Bovary, by Edeet Ravel, is the second book in the “Pauline.btw” series. Irresistible, charming and hilarious, it is sure to amuse and captivate any reader’s attention. The story is told by Pauline Carelli-Bloom (a.k.a. Pauline Bovary). Pauline is an unpredictable teen author who writes about the crazy episodes in her life. She does this with the help of Zane Burbank III’s book, You Too Can Write a Great Novel! Pauline feels Zane knows everything there is to know about being a writer. Not only is Zane considered her guide through the trials and tribulations of novel-writing, it is through her reflective journaling that she is able to confront the challenges of her life. This quick and entertaining read is a teenage novel to which many young adolescents may be able to relate. The book is highly recommended and would be a great addition to any classroom. Award-winning author Edeet Ravel keeps readers spellbound with her clever style of writing. The book is hard to put down as readers will be intrigued with how Pauline will overcome her dramatic problems. An additional volume in the series, The Secret Journey of Pauline Sidhartha, involving Pauline’s adventures in London, is promised. Highly Recommended.

- CM Magazine, University of Manitoba

Look for Me

The title of Edeet Ravel’s second novel, Look for Me, is as multi-layered as the story it tells through Dana’s lens, the reader is afforded a panoramic, intimate view of Israeli society As an imperative, Look implores the reader to look around and see the people whose parallel lives coexist with your own and see the love that you are overlooking The Israeli army uniform and music are two ongoing refrains that surface throughout the often mordantly funny, sad, intensely passionate and always honest story.

- Angela Himsel, New York Jewish Week

Look for Me becomes extraordinarily moving and reveals a depth and compassion that speaks to everyone who cares about Israel. Dana’s voice is direct, idiosyncratic but thoroughly sane. Her passion is direct too, channeled with clarity Look for Me is easy to read and far from didactic. It was only afterwards that the many layers of meaning in the story took on political significance and the depth of this novel became fully apparent. I suspect is is a book that will reward re-reading, full of foreshadowing and forbearing.

- Australian Jewish News

Edeet Ravel’s uniquely insistent voice took me prisoner Her calibration of this jangled world is reminiscent of Nadine Gordimer, [providing] insight that factual reporting can never give. Neither righteous nor preaching, Look for Me is a small but radiant plea for a better world. By using the direct, personal voice, Ravel creates the everydayness of courage amid the equally everyday bitterness involved in trying to behave according to your beliefs. Look for Me is about nobility, goodness and the strength of passionate love, all carried within the character of the wonderful Dana.

- Weekend Australian

A polished and perceptive writer, Ravel suggest not only that hope springs eternal in the human breast but that occasionally goodwill and love can bring their hoped-for reward The novel is unsentimental, quietly suspenseful and realistic, and the author has succeeded in making Dana determined, compassionate and vulnerable, but also not wholly predictable.

- Sunday Canberra Times

Ravel’s ability to convey the edgy, violent tenor of life in contemporary Israel and the different ways its citizens, Arab and Jew, try to deal with this situation [is] memorable.

- The Age (Melbourne)

Like its predecessor, Ten Thousand Lovers, this arresting second novel in a trilogy unfolds in Israel, where the relative comforts of urban life stand in stark contrast with the dangers of settlements and Palestinian communities Like Israel itself, Dana is caught in a double bind, victim to irreconcilable loves and duties. It's no surprise that the searing immanence of Ravel’s personal experience and her polished prose converge to make a truly compelling book Recommended for larger public libraries and academic collections carrying works by writers like A.B. Yehoshua.

- Library Journal

In Look for Me, the second installment of Ravel's Tel Aviv trilogy, she again makes good use of the drama of the Middle East and the problems of lovers caught in the chaos. Once more, she blends the personal and political so well that our understanding of each dimension is enlarged Ravel's characterizations are nuanced, and sidestep stereotypes. Her portraits of an offbeat group in Dana's apartment building are especially good. But Ravel's writing is at its loveliest when she describes the terrain Dana carefully observes and sometimes photographs. Like its predecessor, this is a novel with a strong moral centre, one that argues forcibly and honourably for an end to hatred and violence The dialogue is crisp, the plot compelling, and the glimpses of the ongoing war are powerful. Not a false note anywhere as Dana looks for her husband and also attends peace rallies, struggling to be effective in both arenas.

- Cynthia Holz, Globe and Mail

Ravel's tight plotting each chapter appears in sequence, starting on a Saturday and ending 10 days later makes the pages almost turn themselves Gritty scenes detailing Dana's involvement in often harrowing protests more than balance any surfeit of romance Without giving away the ending Ravel both satisfies our lust for closure while adding another square to the crazy quilt that is life in Israel.

- Toronto Star

What elevates these books [Ten Thousand Lovers and Look for Me] is Ravel’s commitment to the political, to documenting the ways in which war breaks and unravels people The conflict in these books is not romanticized in the way that stories about the First and Second World Wars can sometimes be; it is immediate and brutal and full of ambiguities. Look for Me is a compelling book about a complex situation eminently readable and interesting, in all the best senses of that word.

- Winnipeg Free Press

Thoughtful and intelligent, Look for Me breathes humanity into the Middle Eastern conflict. Instead of the tired stereotypes perpetuated by the media, Ravel paints a picture of life in today's Israel that exposes the ordinary hopes and dreams of ordinary Palestinians and Israelis Ravel is a poignant writer whose skill for crafting character makes Dana Hillman as fascinating as she is enigmatic. Complex and compelling, Ravel's emotional attention to detail results in a quirky and alluring narrative.

- Montreal Hour

The second novel in Montreal author Edeet Ravel's Tel Aviv trilogy, Look For Me, compellingly examines love and tragedy in the midst of war. The suspense over whether or not one of the many leads Dana follows will end with reconciliation drives the story. But the heart of the novel is Ravel's examination of the ways in which the Israel-Palestine conflict stunts and distorts Dana's life and the lives of everyone around her, both those who exercise power and those whose lives are irrevocably altered by its abuses.

- Ottawa Citizen

Ravel moves effortlessly from the larger to the smaller picture, bringing us a fascinating perspective of someone living the politics of one of the world’s most notorious hot spots amidst a daily life of much personal eccentricity.

- Quill & Quire, Canada

Edeet Ravel expresses her belief that there is a real potential for peace the reader is given snapshots of the tragedy, madness and occasional comedy of the conflict, as well as being handed the human and emotional fallout Look for Me is a classic combination of the forces of love and war and the effects of one on the other, and how the magnitude of each seems amplified in the presence of the other.

- What’s On, Manitoba

In Ravel’s work, the personal is political and the political is personal. In both Look for Me and Ten Thousand Lovers, she shows she is unafraid of tackling the big taboo topics of politics and religiun. But it’s in the subtler aspects, the perfectly lit up moments of her writing, that I find the real rewards.

- Vancouver Sun

A punchy and readable story of thwarted love amid the recent escalation of Middle East hostilities.

- Saturday Night, Canada

Extremely engrossing.

- Edmonton Journal

The author presents a much-needed novel perspective... the story is also about the ability to continue smiling, laughing and loving in a land always in mourning.

- Calgary Herald

The book is a swift read. The narration effortlessly carries the reader along.

- Jerusalem Post

Montreal writer Edeet Ravel has courageously decided to write about the occupation in not one novel, but three: the Tel Aviv Trilogy... Look for Me is constructed as a mystery, cleverly keeping the reader turning pages to find out what has become of Daniel and why he would leave his solid, loving wife... Like her heroine, Ravel has compassion for all the parties caught in this decades-long struggle for land and self-determination... this [is a] bold novel that dares raise so many questions and refuses to give up on love.

- Montreal Review of Books

Edeet Ravel writes a touching love story framed by the vivid realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a deft hand, describing the different sides and viewpoints of the situation without slipping into political rhetoric. The descriptive passages in her latest book are strong, as is the insight offered into everyday life in one of the world's most troubling conflict zones... [the novel is] fascinating and well written.

- McGill News

Lovers: A Midrash

A unique spiritual apprehension of the modern world. This is a remarkable accomplishment, written with humour and compassion.

- A. B. Yehoshua

Lovers is an intriguing experiment, part myth, part aphorism, laced through with cries and episodes of private emotion. In drawing on her own passions, Edeet Ravel evokes passionate echoes from the reader.

- Elizabeth Spencer

Splendid - a world of vision mediated through and through by language fascinating and vibrant.

- Shedomot, Tel Aviv

Bringing the practice of Rabbinical interpretation to bear on the theme of love is a master stroke... seductive, thought provoking and sensitive.

- Montreal Gazette

I like it. Thank you.

- Leonard Cohen

This haunting prose poem novel is essentially an exploration of the complex interrelationships between interpretation, knowledge, communication and desire. It freed me to imagine a House of Study where we could discuss our dreams and our daily lives, along with our most profound and scared thoughts about poetry and the nature of the universe.

- Canadian Literature