By Ruth Abraham
CreateSpace IndependentPublishing Platform. 2017
Amazon $15.95; Kindle: $5.50
Reviewed by Lenore Hahn
Ruth Abraham's novel Searching for Angels grabs your attention from the start.
The author is an art therapist who lectures about art therapy at Beit Berl College in Kfar Saba. Her book When Words Have Lost Their Meaning: Alzheimer Patients Communicate Through Art has received rave reviews. She is also the author of short stories found in various anthologies.
This is Anna' Freeman's story. She is a woman of twenty-five trying to adjust to life in Israel. The novel begins when she receives a shocking telephone call in her Tel Aviv apartment from her native Johannesburg. She cannot believe that her beloved sister has died suddenly from a massive heart attack, leaving a grieving husband and an inconsolable six-year-old daughter. Anna immediately leaves her life and her boyfriend in her newly adopted county to travel to South Africa.
The settings are both South Africa and Israel. They become very real places to the reader, showing the differences of life in both countries. At times, Anna struggles with her commitment to each. She is challenged by her relationship with her Israeli lover and her duties to her family in Johannesburg.
It is difficult to put down Searching for Angels, since one becomes so emotionally involved. The novel presents life situations with which the reader can easily identify. It is well written in very clear prose.
I am looking forward to Ruth Abraham's next novel since this was so enjoyable.