The Parting Gift

Book excerpt: A “feverish and hypnotic” LGBTQ novel, combining the intoxicating atmosphere of Israel’s Mediterranean coast with the mounting dread of Patricia Highsmith and the eroticism of Edmund White (Shelf Awareness). “An unabashed tale that does not pull punches and looks at love’s underside . . . hits hard and never lets up.” —André Aciman, author of Call Me by Your Name An unnamed narrator writes a letter to an old college friend, Adam, with whom he has been staying since his abrupt return to the States from Israel. Now that the narrator is moving on to a new location, he finally reveals the events that led him to Adam’s door, set in motion by a chance encounter with Uzi, a spice merchant whose wares had developed a cult following. From his first meeting with Uzi, the narrator is overwhelmed by an animal attraction that will lead him to derail his life, withdraw from friends and extend his stay in a small town north of Tel Aviv. As he becomes increasingly entangled in Uzi’s life—and by extension the lives of Uzi’s ex-wife and children—his passion turns sinister, ultimately threatening all around him. Written in a circuitous style that keeps you guessing until the end, The Parting Gift is an erotic page-turner and a shrewd exploration of the roles men assume, or are forced to assume, as lovers, as fathers, as Israelis, as Palestinians. “Intricate and complex . . . beautifully and tenderly told.” —Imbolo Mbue, New York Times bestselling author of Behold the Dreamers