Ora, a middle-aged Israeli mother, is on the verge of celebrating her son Ofer's release from army service when he returns to the front for a major offensive. In a fit of preemptive grief and magical thinking, she sets out for a hike in the Galilee, leaving no forwarding information for the 'notifiers' who might darken her door with the worst possible news. Recently estranged from her husband, Ilan, she drags along an unlikely companion: their former best friend and her former lover Avram, once a brilliant artistic spirit. Avram served in the army alongside Ilan when they were young, but their lives were forever changed one weekend when the two jokingly had Ora draw lots to see which of them would get the few days' leave being offered by their commander - a chance act that sent Avram into Egpyt and the Yom Kippur War, where he was brutally tortured as a POW. In the aftermath, a virtual hermit, he refused to keep in touch with the family and has never met the boy. Now, as Ora and Avram sleep out in the hills, ford rivers and cross valleys, avoiding all news from the front, she gives him the gift of Ofer, word by word; she supplies the whole story of her motherhood, a retelling that keeps Ofer very much alive for Ora and for the reader, and opens Avram to human bonds undreamed of in his broken world. Their walk has a 'war and peace' rhythm, as their conversation places the most hideous trials of war next to the daily joys and anguish of raising children. Never have we seen so clearly the reality and surreality of daily life in Israel, the currents of ambivalence about war within one household, and the burdens that fall on each generation anew. Grossman's rich imagining of a family in love and crisis makes for one of the great antiwar novels of our time.

大卫•格罗斯曼

David Grossman

大卫•格罗斯曼是享誉世界的以色列当代作家。他1954年生于耶路撒冷,毕业于耶路撒冷希伯来大学哲学和戏剧专业,曾在以色列电台做过多年编辑和新闻评论员。自二十世纪八十年代初以来,他已经出版九部长篇小说和中短篇小说集、四部散文随笔集以及童书、儿童剧等作品。

大卫•格罗斯曼的作品已被翻译成36种文字在全世界出版。他的作品除了获得以色列诸多文学奖,也获得多项国际奖项,包括德国绍尔兄妹文学奖、意大利弗拉亚诺奖、格林扎纳•卡佛奖、蒙特罗奖、伊斯基亚国际新闻奖。

《到大地尽头》是他最近一部长篇小说,自2008年出版以来,相继获得法国美第奇外国小说奖、德国君特•格拉斯基金会信天翁文学奖、英国《犹太季刊》温盖特奖。2010年,大卫•格罗斯曼荣获著名的德国书业和平奖。

这部皇皇巨著甫一出版即横扫以色列畅销书榜,很快售出20余国版权。连美国总统奥巴马也在2011年选择此书作为暑期读物,一改只读伟人传记的习惯。

大卫•格罗斯曼和奥兹、耶霍舒亚等作家一样,具有强烈的社会参与意识。他关心以色列社会和政治,笔触探及当代以色列社会诸如占领地、巴以关系等敏感话题。

大卫•格罗斯曼和妻子住在耶路撒冷,育有三个子女。次子乌里于2006年第二次黎巴嫩战争停火前夕,在前线阵亡。