Mr. Mani (Harvest in Translation)

Five voices speak backward across six generations, tracing one Sephardic family through war, exile, and the obsessions of Jerusalem. Mr. Mani is a deeply affecting six-generation family saga, extending from nineteenth century Greece and Poland to British-occupied Palestine to German-occupied Crete and ultimately to modern Israel. The novel unfolds each historical panel through an intimate domestic confrontation, balanced between private grief and public catastrophe. Yehoshua follows the family line through a young kibbutznik in the Negev, a German soldier in Crete, and a British military lawyer in World War I Jerusalem. Across each interval, the chronicle anchors its drama in physical detail, moving from a Polish country estate and an ancient Cretan ruin to the stone alleys of Ottoman Jerusalem. The narrative moves through time and is told in five conversations about the Mani family. It ends in Athens in 1848 with Avraham Mani’s powerful tale about the death of his young son in Jerusalem. A profoundly human novel, rich in drama, irony, and wit. Unconventional Narrative Structure: Each encounter records only one speaker’s half of the dialogue, leaving the reader to reconstruct the missing partner’s questions, objections, and hidden grief. Father Son Relationships: Paternal duty, obsession, and the weight of ancestry haunt every generation. Psychological Family Drama: Late at night on an 1899 Polish estate, an ironic young pediatrician confesses to his father how an impulsive trip to a Jerusalem maternity clinic ended in scandal. Also by This Author: The Tunnel, A Woman in Jerusalem and The Extra.
ASIN: 0156627698
VSKU: DBV.0156627698.A
Condition: Acceptable
Author/Artist:A. B. Yehoshua
Binding: Paperback
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: This copy has clearly been enjoyed—expect noticeable shelf wear and some minor creases to the cover. Binding is strong, and all pages are legible. May contain previous library markings or stamps.