WORLD LITERARY ATLASBOOKS WITHOUT BORDERS · 2026
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Asia · A READING GUIDE

Israel

Amos Oz was born in Jerusalem in 1939. His autobiographical book connects family history with the city’s life in the 1940s and 1950s. Agnon and Yehoshua develop different forms of family and historical narrative. Appelfeld, Grossman, Matalon, Shalev and Keret open further routes through Holocaust memory, war, migration, intimacy and short absurdist fiction.

Books to begin with

An editorial selection · not ranked

Edition cover: Opowieść o miłości i mroku — Amos Oz
Polish edition

Amos Oz

A Tale of Love and Darkness

About the book

An autobiographical narrative returns to childhood in Jerusalem, family languages and the death of the author’s mother.

Original title: סיפור על אהבה וחושך (Sipur al ahava ve choshech)

EnglishTranslation

A Tale of Love and Darkness

Vintage

Edition source ↗
PolishTranslation

Opowieść o miłości i mroku

Rebis

Edition source ↗

S. Y. Agnon

Only Yesterday

About the book

A young immigrant arrives in Ottoman Palestine, where ideals collide with work, desire and social divisions.

EnglishTranslation

Only Yesterday

Princeton University Press

Edition source ↗
Edition cover: Mr Mani — A. B. Yehoshua
English edition

A. B. Yehoshua

Mr Mani

About the book

Five one-sided conversations trace a Sephardi family’s history backwards through generations.

EnglishTranslation

Mr Mani

Halban Publishers

Edition source ↗
Edition cover: To the End of the Land — David Grossman
English edition

David Grossman

To the End of the Land

About the book

A soldier’s mother walks through Galilee, hoping that telling her son’s story can keep death at bay.

EnglishTranslation

To the End of the Land

Vintage

Edition source ↗
PolishTranslation

Tam, gdzie kończy się kraj

Świat Książki · 2013

Translated by Magdalena Sommer

Edition source ↗

Aharon Appelfeld

Badenheim 1939

About the book

Jewish holidaymakers in an Austrian resort fail to recognise the significance of growing restrictions.

EnglishTranslation

Badenheim 1939

David R. Godine

Edition source ↗

Orly Castel-Bloom

Dolly City

About the book

A grotesque doctor and mother tries to protect her child as anxiety distorts the body and the surrounding city.

EnglishTranslation

Dolly City

Dalkey Archive Press

Edition source ↗

Ronit Matalon

The Sound of Our Steps

About the book

Childhood in an Egyptian immigrant family is reconstructed through brief scenes of memory and family tension.

EnglishTranslation

The Sound of Our Steps

Metropolitan Books

Edition source ↗
Edition cover: And This Is the Light — Lea Goldberg
English edition

Lea Goldberg

And This Is the Light

About the book

Nora returns to her Lithuanian home for a holiday and struggles with family fear and unrequited love.

EnglishTranslation

And This Is the Light

Toby Press

Edition source ↗
Edition cover: Fly Already — Etgar Keret
English edition

Etgar Keret

Fly Already

About the book

Short stories reveal absurdity and emotional fractures beneath everyday life.

EnglishTranslation

Fly Already

Riverhead Books

Edition source ↗
Edition cover: Suddenly, a Knock on the Door — Etgar Keret
English edition

Etgar Keret

Suddenly, a Knock on the Door

About the book

Parenthood, work and ordinary encounters turn into surreal stories of human longing.

EnglishTranslation

Suddenly, a Knock on the Door

FSG Originals

Edition source ↗
Context and sources

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