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Thirteenth Hour
An American-born woman biologist living in Jerusalem and an American-raised Muslim woman are recruited for a deadly, secret mission, finding themselves unlikely allies in a growing web of violence that threatens their families, heritage, and lives. Reprint.
416 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1996
About the author
Barbara Sofer
10 books1 followerBarbara Sofer of Jerusalem, Israel is the Israel Director of Public Relations and Communications for Hadassah. She is a popular columnist in the Jerusalem Post, a journalist and novelist.
Connecticut President of Young Judaea, she made aliyah the week after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her MA at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem while teaching in a development town and at Jerusalem’s University High School. Always a writer by profession, she has been a contributing editor at Hadassah Magazine for more than a decade, and has covered articles in all sectors of Israeli society.
In addition, her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Women’s Day, Reader’s Digest, and Parent’s to name a few. She has also served as contributing editor for Inside Magazine and editor of Ohr Torah Stone Newsbriefs. Barbara is the author of Kids Love Israel, Israel Loves Kids, Shalom Haver, Goodbye-Friend (Karben) written with Rachel Rabin, and The Thirteenth Hour, a novel, which received wide critical acclaim, published by Dutton, Penguin and Keter Publishing, in Hebrew, and llan Ramon, Israel’s Space Hero, (Lerner) a children’s biography of the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon. She is currently writing a children’s book on the Israel Defense Force and an adult book on spirituality, At Home with God. As the liaison from Hadassah’s projects to the foreign press, which included such top tier media programs as Sixty Minutes and Nightline, she contributed to the CNBC program Jerusalem ER, which won a 2003 Emmy Award. The positive press exposure was a key factor in Hadassah Medical Organization’s nomination for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.
An impassioned lecturer, Barbara has spoken to many audiences in Israel and America on Jewish, Women’s and Spiritual topics. She has served as a Scholar-in-Residence at both the Asilomar Conference in February 2000 and the Young Women’s Voices Conference in January 2001, the MAC Young Women’s Institute, Detroit February 2004, and the Women of the West Conference in Dallas in May 2005.
Barbara is the winner of seven Rockower Journalism awards for outstanding Jewish journalism and of the Sydney Taylor Award in 1996 for the best Jewish children’s book for her Shalom, Haver. She won the 2004 Special Award of the Israeli Association of Public Relations for her international campaign, “Island of Sanity” about the ability of Hadassah staff to maintain their values despite the experience of terror.
In addition to her BA and MA, she studied writing and film at the New School of Social Research and Fiction Writing at the Harvard University Extension. She completed the two-year forum in Zionist Leadership at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. She is member of the ASJA European-Middle Eastern Journalist, the American Society for Journalists and Authors, the Israel Public Relations Association and the London-based International Public Relations Association. Barbara is involved in Women for the Sanctity of Life and Keren Klitah for new immigrants, as well as the Israel Women’s Network. She is a member of the Yakar Learning Community synagogue and, since its first year, the innovative Shira Hadasha congregation in Jerusalem.
Barbara and her husband, scientist/author Dr. Gerald Schroeder, have raised and educated all five of their children in Israel.
Connecticut President of Young Judaea, she made aliyah the week after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her MA at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem while teaching in a development town and at Jerusalem’s University High School. Always a writer by profession, she has been a contributing editor at Hadassah Magazine for more than a decade, and has covered articles in all sectors of Israeli society.
In addition, her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Women’s Day, Reader’s Digest, and Parent’s to name a few. She has also served as contributing editor for Inside Magazine and editor of Ohr Torah Stone Newsbriefs. Barbara is the author of Kids Love Israel, Israel Loves Kids, Shalom Haver, Goodbye-Friend (Karben) written with Rachel Rabin, and The Thirteenth Hour, a novel, which received wide critical acclaim, published by Dutton, Penguin and Keter Publishing, in Hebrew, and llan Ramon, Israel’s Space Hero, (Lerner) a children’s biography of the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon. She is currently writing a children’s book on the Israel Defense Force and an adult book on spirituality, At Home with God. As the liaison from Hadassah’s projects to the foreign press, which included such top tier media programs as Sixty Minutes and Nightline, she contributed to the CNBC program Jerusalem ER, which won a 2003 Emmy Award. The positive press exposure was a key factor in Hadassah Medical Organization’s nomination for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.
An impassioned lecturer, Barbara has spoken to many audiences in Israel and America on Jewish, Women’s and Spiritual topics. She has served as a Scholar-in-Residence at both the Asilomar Conference in February 2000 and the Young Women’s Voices Conference in January 2001, the MAC Young Women’s Institute, Detroit February 2004, and the Women of the West Conference in Dallas in May 2005.
Barbara is the winner of seven Rockower Journalism awards for outstanding Jewish journalism and of the Sydney Taylor Award in 1996 for the best Jewish children’s book for her Shalom, Haver. She won the 2004 Special Award of the Israeli Association of Public Relations for her international campaign, “Island of Sanity” about the ability of Hadassah staff to maintain their values despite the experience of terror.
In addition to her BA and MA, she studied writing and film at the New School of Social Research and Fiction Writing at the Harvard University Extension. She completed the two-year forum in Zionist Leadership at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. She is member of the ASJA European-Middle Eastern Journalist, the American Society for Journalists and Authors, the Israel Public Relations Association and the London-based International Public Relations Association. Barbara is involved in Women for the Sanctity of Life and Keren Klitah for new immigrants, as well as the Israel Women’s Network. She is a member of the Yakar Learning Community synagogue and, since its first year, the innovative Shira Hadasha congregation in Jerusalem.
Barbara and her husband, scientist/author Dr. Gerald Schroeder, have raised and educated all five of their children in Israel.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 24, 2021
This is the first novel I've read by Sofer (I was familiar with her from her travel guide for families). While the story feels a little dated in some respects, it's certainly well-paced and gripping. I thought she did a pretty good job at trying to humanize her characters, although they are a bit cardboard. Escapist reading.
June 18, 2017
Did not like this book at all. Way too one-sided.
November 4, 2024
This is the book that we all should be reading right now!!!
November 8, 2025
this book is very good but dated, so it was difficult to get through.
October 1, 2010
A good book based on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. It is action packed, but there are better books out there like "The Attack"; by Yasmina Khadra. I was hoping for more of a relationship between the two women who were fighting on opposite sides of this conflict. I liked that both the women were portrayed as intelligent, strong and educated. I did not however, find this a balanced portrayal of the people. For the Palestinian side it really focused on the terrorist, fundamentalists and did not give a good balance of them as a people. For the Israelis it focused on the GSS (govt security service) and their need for defense. There was one line in the book that stuck with me. One of the women said "we are dealing with the megalomaniacs on both sides of this", that sort of sums up the premise of this book. It is very hard to give a fair picture without a little history, which was lacking in this book. Perhaps the balance was to be within these two women, as they are the true heroines of the story. Lots of action, violence, and a couple of love stories thrown in for good measure.
As for George Guidall, the narrator, always a treat! He does an excellent job as usual.
As for George Guidall, the narrator, always a treat! He does an excellent job as usual.
February 15, 2010
This book had great potential in terms of the story and plot line. However, the dialog was pretty dreadful and the characters mostly flat and one-dimensional.
To top it off, the ending turned out to be far more violent than seemed appropriate or necessary to get the point across, especially in light of the style that the rest of the book had been written in.
At least there were good and bad characters among both the Jews and the Palestinians. Overall, though, the plot was pretty hard to believe, the writing needed polishing and editing, and the dialogue maudlin and often wince-worthy.
To top it off, the ending turned out to be far more violent than seemed appropriate or necessary to get the point across, especially in light of the style that the rest of the book had been written in.
At least there were good and bad characters among both the Jews and the Palestinians. Overall, though, the plot was pretty hard to believe, the writing needed polishing and editing, and the dialogue maudlin and often wince-worthy.
March 23, 2014
Started ploughing through this book hoping it would get better. It didn't; just more ridiculous. I ended up skimming through the second half as I hate not finishing a book. I did learn a bit about cooking with garlic, however this knowledge was not worth the time wasted on this book.
November 11, 2011
I was unimpressed by the writing of this book. It seemed a bit simplistic. The story was fast moving and an easy read. Worth reading if you needed a quick read but not a favorite.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews