The Book of Love and Hate

Book excerpt: The author of the Lambda Literary Award winner Kamikaze Lust delivers “a thrilling tale of espionage, family ties, sex, love, and betrayal” (The Advocate). Jennifer Baron is a failed Olympic speed skater now running her family’s foundation and trying to stay sober, when her billionaire father disappears. She travels to Israel in search of him, becoming recklessly entangled in his illegal dealings and with his enigmatic lover, Gila, a former Mossad agent gone bad. Along the way, she is drawn into the shadow worlds of the Promised Land, where career-jockeying government agents, fake Orthodox Jews, queer Palestinians on the run, and other displaced wanderers scramble to find home amid the endless cycles of war, occupation, and heartbreak. The Book of Love and Hate is an unraveling of white-collar crime and its motivations. It’s a testament to the magnificent oblivion of love and a shattering of inherited trauma, both personal and historical. “A thriller of literary pedigree, unbound by convention . . . If you’re seeking a cathartic resolution in the final pages, you might be disappointed—but you shouldn’t be surprised. Not when you’re talking about Israel and corrupt fortunes, and madness, obsession, and abuse . . . Just don’t expect to find a safe, comforting space in the pages of Lauren Sanders’s discomforting and terrific book.” —The Village Voice “Sanders knows how to craft a story. The storyline is riveting, and the personal development of the characters kept me engaged on a deeper level than even her thrilling plot could. Her prose is beautiful and brings you to an ending that is sure to have you reeling.” —Windy City Times