The Woman Beyond the Sea

by Sarit Yishai-Levi, Gilah Kahn-Hoffmann (Translator)

A mesmerizing novel about three generations of women who have lost each other—and the quest to weave them back into a family.

An immersive historical tale spanning the life stories of three women, The Woman Beyond the Sea traces the paths of a daughter, mother, and grandmother who lead entirely separate lives, until finally their stories and their hearts are joined together.

Eliya thinks that she’s finally found true love and passion with her charismatic and demanding husband, an aspiring novelist—until he ends their relationship in a Paris café, spurring her suicide attempt. Seeking to heal herself, Eliya is compelled to piece together the jagged shards of her life and history.

Eliya’s heart-wrenching journey leads her to a profound and unexpected love, renewed family ties, and a reconciliation with her orphaned mother, Lily. Together, the two women embark on a quest to discover the truth about themselves and Lily’s own origins…and the unknown woman who set their stories in motion one Christmas Eve.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Israel, Jewish, Historical, Family, Book Club

413 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2019

About the author

Sarit Yishai-Levi (Hebrew: שרית ישי-לוי) is an Israeli writer and journalist, who presents columns on television and the Internet in the fields of entertainment and tourism. She has also acted in Israeli theater and films.

Reviews

[Sue]

I'll start my review with this comment -- this was a translated book and was difficult to read in the beginning. It was overly dramatic in places and difficult to follow at times which I think was due to the translation. HOWEVER, the overall story line was fantastic and definitely worth working through the initial problems with reading it. Along with look at a totally dysfunctional mother and daughter, it's an interesting look at life in Israel.

Eliya is the daughter. She is a real daddy's girl and resents her mother. She doesn't understand her mother or why her father put up with her for the years of their marriage. Issues with her parents go on the back burner after she falls in love. Her husband is a narcissistic author who is living in Paris while he writes his great novel. He expects Eliya to take care of his every need even though he often treats her poorly. He finally admits to her, at a cafe in Paris, that he is in love with someone else and she needs to leave Paris and go home. She is devastated and can't function in life at all. She's living in her parents' house and spending most of her time in bed. It's only after her attempted suicide that she realizes it's time to get help to learn how to survive in life without her husband. Though her father is worried and tries to take care of her, her mother Lily seems to have little regard for her daughter or her pain. As we get Lily's story, the reasons for her attitude toward her family become more apparent. Lily was left at an orphanage the day she was born. She was raised by the nuns in a strict non emotional setting and always wished that she knew more about her mother. When she learns that she is probably Jewish, she leaves the orphanage and tries to live life on her own. She marries and when her beloved son dies during his first year, she's devastated. She wanted to give her son all of the love and caring that she never received from her own mother and can't fathom life without her son. When Eliya is born, she basically turns her care over to her husband as she continues to mourn her son. As Eliya grows up, she has little understanding of the trials of her mother's life but she knows that she and her mother are nothing alike and that there is no common ground between them. After her suicide attempt, Eliya begins to learn more about her mother and Lily begins slowly begins to understand her daughter and they begin to attempt to develop a mother-daughter relationship. Will they be able to become a family or is it too late in their lives to make drastic changes? Can they let go of their pasts, forgive each other and go into the future together?

Other than issues with the translations, this was an interesting book to read. It was interesting to see the growth in both characters as they worked to become a family and find happiness.

[Sharon de Koning Kessel]

לפסוח בדילוגים גדולים. עדיף כאלו של צ׳יטה

[Nati Korn]

עיקר עיסוקו של הספר הזה באופן שבו אירועים טראומתיים ובחירות אישיות מולידים טראומות חדשות בחייהם של צאצאינו ובאפשרות שריפויה של הטראומה בבני דור הצאצאים תלוי בפתירתה (ואולי מאפשרת פיתרון כזה) בחייהם של בני המשפחה המבוגרים יותר. הוא מביא את סיפורן של שלוש נשים, בנות משפחה אחת: אליה, אימה לילי וסבתה רוחל. כל אחת מהן שוקעת בתהומות של כאב וייאוש בלתי פתורים. הסבתא מעבירה את הטראומה והכאב לאם וזו, בתורה, מורישה אותם לבתה. מתוך התפקחותה של הבת אליה ונסיונותיה לשקם את עצמה נולד תהליך של ריפוי או לפחות של השלמה אצל אימה ולאחר מכן גם אצל סבתה. בתוך כך אנו מתוודעים לסיפור חייהן של השלוש הנפרש לאורכה של המאה העשרים: בתל אביב ובפריז של שנות השבעים, בירושלים ותל אביב של שנות הארבעים והחמישים ובירושלים המנדטורית בסוף שנות העשרים.

משהו בסיפור הזה זרק אותי שנים אחורה אל תקופת הילדות שלי עצמי.

כילד לא אהבתי במיוחד לשחק בפאזלים. אז עוד לא למדתי מדעי המחשב ולא הכרתי שיטות שונות של מיון וחיפוש. פאזל נראה לי תמיד כסוג של חידה מנוונת ולא מעניינת במיוחד. התמונה הסופית כבר נתונה מראש על גבי עטיפת הקופסא. כל שנותר הוא להתמיד. לחבר חלק אל חלק ולבסוף, במוקדם או במאוחר יסתיים תהליך ההרכבה. למרות זאת כשבגרתי מעט התחשק פתאום גם לי לנסות ולהרכיב פאזל. בקשתי מסבא רוּבן לפני יציאתו לחופשה בחו"ל שיביא לי כמתנה פאזל של 1500 חלקים. לשאלתו מה ארצה שתהייה תמונת הפאזל סיפקתי בתור תשובה את ההגדרה "תמונת נוף שווייצרי". מאחר ואהבתי טבע ונופים ציפיתי כנראה לאיזו תמונה של נוף עוצר נשימה, פסגות מחודדות ומושלגות, עמקים מוריקים, פרחים עדינים, תמונות שכיום נפוצות בעיקר כרקע לשולחן העבודה במחשב. סבא רובן שהיה מותק של סבא ובעל מעלות רבות לא התברך לצערי בעל טעם אומנותי משובח במיוחד (ולא זה המקום להתייחס לטעמו הספרותי – חוברות מערבונים מתורגמות או כתובות גרמנית היו הסוגה המועדפת עליו). לכן הייתי צריך אולי לחזות מראש את האכזבה שהנחיל לי הפאזל שטרח להביא לי. זה אומנם לא חרג מן ההגדרה שספקתי ואף ענה עליה במלואה. אך לא מצא במיוחד חן בעיני.

הנוף אכן היה שוויצרי אך משעמם משהו. חציו שמים תכולים חסרי כל ענן או גוון וחציו צמרות עצים. ובתווך ניצב לו מה שכיניתי, ביני לבין עצמי, המנזר. מבנה עתיק וענק. מרובע לחלוטין ולו גג אדום עם אלפי רעפים. בקיר המבנה היו קבועים עשרות חלונות קטנים וצפופים. לו רק היה מעוטר בצריחים או בחפירים, בקשתות או במגדלים או לכל הפחות באיזה פיתול פה ושם. הפאזל עצמו התגלה כסיוט. חלקיו היו בלתי מגוונים בעליל. יכולת להיתקל רק בחלקים תכולים, או מכוסי עלים זעירים או רעפים אדומים וכמובן עשרות חלונות חסרי כל הבדל. עד היום לא ברור לי אם לא הצלחתי לסיים אפילו מאית ממנו בגלל הקושי או בגלל השעמום.

את הספר הזה דווקא התאמצתי וסיימתי. כמו הפאזל שתיארתי הוא עונה על התיאור שסיפקתי בפתיחה אך לא על ציפיותיי - עלילתו פשטנית משהו והיא אינה בדיוק כוס התה שלי. לא מפריעים לי שלל האסונות שהחיים מפילים על ראשן של הגיבורות (החיים עשויים להיות אכזריים) וגם לא הקיצוניות הטוטאלית של כל אחת מהנשים (לפעמים נדמה לי שכל דמות המתוארת בכתיבה נמצאת בקצה הדברים באיזשהו אופן). אבל כמו בפאזל שהביא לי סבי הייאוש מתגלה עם בחינת החלקים המרכיבים את השלם. כל קטע וקטע, כמעט כתבתי כל משפט ומשפט, הם קלישאתיים לעילא. הכתיבה בהירה וקולחת אבל במחיר של חזרות אינסופיות על אותם הדברים שכבר נאמרו. הכותבת דווקא מדלגת בין נקודות המבט של הגיבורים השונים אבל כותבת הכל בלשונו של מספר כל יודע ובכך מטשטשת כל הבדלי סגנון אפשריים שיכלו להפוך גם חזרות על דברים למעניינות. סיומו של הספר היה ממש טלנובלה אחת גדולה (למעט סיפורה של רוחל) וכמעט נשברתי.

גם העריכה הייתה יכולה להיות טובה יותר. אליה מסיימת טיפול פסיכולוגי בתובנה שכבר סופרה לנו כמה פרקים קודם. שאול ואליה מגלים דברים משגרת יומה של לילי שכבר ידועים לנו כקוראים. אנו מתוודעים לסיפורה של רוחל אבל אליה ולילי מגיבות לדברים בקשיחות כמו לא הפנימו את משמעותו ונדרשות לעוד כמה קלישאות מפיה של רוחל בשביל להתרצות. דילול של החזרות, לפעמים פשוט סדר שונה של הפרקים היו יכולים להוסיף לעלילה קורטוב של מסתורין שהיה יכול לשפר במשהו את הסיפור.

היה בכתיבה משהו קצת ילדותי לפרקים. מצד אחד ביטויים של שנאת הנצרות (הנזירות, הכובש הבריטי) ומצד שני שאיפה לאיזו השלמה וסליחה גדולה. אצלי זה יצר דיסוננס מסוים אבל יתכן וזו הייתה כוונת הכותבת.

בקיצור קראתי על אוטומט. ולמרות שהסופרת לוחצת על כל בלוטות הדמעות נשארתי קצת אדיש לדמויות ולגורלן.

[Nursebookie]

TITLE: The Woman Beyond the Sea
AUTHOR: Sarit Yishai-Levi
TRANSLATED BY: Gilah Kahn Hoffman
PUB DATE: 03.21.2023

A mesmerizing novel about three generations of women who have lost each other―and the quest to weave them back into a family.

An immersive historical tale spanning the life stories of three women, The Woman Beyond the Sea traces the paths of a daughter, mother, and grandmother who lead entirely separate lives, until finally their stories and their hearts are joined together.

I found the story historically immersive and fascinating. As a historical fiction reader, I love reading different historical perspectives - this particular story highlights Paris to Tel Aviv and Yugoslavia during the Yom Kippur War and British ruled Israel. It’s a story that is heartbreaking and yet hopeful that illuminates three generations of resilient women.

[Andrea | andrea.c.lowry.reads]

Sadly this was a DNF for me. I really wanted to love this book so much, but everything was way too over the top and the characters are just annoying and beyond redemption. Overall, the whole thing was a train wreck.

[Ritu Bhathal]

Firstly, I want to say that translated fiction can be quite hard to read. Sometimes things literally get 'lost in translation'. Phrases used commonly in the original language can sound strange when written to suit a different tongue.
However, despite taking a little time to get into it, The Woman Beyond The Sea was a beautiful story about a daughter, her mother, and their relationships.
Eliya finds herself in emotional turmoil after her marriage breaks, especially since she was warned against the union by her family.
She goes through several unstable phases, including suicidal thoughts, which are not helped by her mother, Lily, who can't seem to find love or compassion for her only daughter,
Lily, herself, is a damaged creature with no stable foundations and far too much heartache, despite having the love of a good man forever behind her and beside her.
Ultimately this is a story of discovering one's self, and in The Woman Beyond The Sea, Lily and Eliya go on a bumpy ride to find out why they feel the way they do about one another and those around them.
Sometimes there was repetition and more than one POV in a named POV chapter, but I was immersed in the story and spent an entire day in bed wanting to read more!

[Janet]

Set mainly in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

I was absolutely immersed in this book; from the story of Lily, the baby girl left on the steps of a convent and brought up by the nuns, to Lily’s daughter who feels unloved and unwanted by her mother. Is history repeating itself? Lily lost her first baby, a baby boy, when he was just a year old and is so traumatised she is unable to move on from her pain. Her daughter, her husband, her whole life is suffering.
Lily’s daughter has suffered her own pain as her beloved husband unceremoniously dumps her when she travels to Paris to be with him.

Without giving too much away this book covers the traumas of three generations of women, all suffering, and looking for answers, forgiveness and ultimately happiness.

It is a difficult read at times as themes of loss of a baby, attempted suicide and depression are involved but they were sensitively written. I don’t feel at all depressed after finishing it, but actually quite uplifted. I feel the book shows the positives in letting go of the past, forgiveness, and moving on with life without hanging on to the past.

I enjoyed reading about the Jewish culture.

[S R]

This book is about people who have been abused and hurt and carry it with them bitterly through most of the book. My Book Group chose this book because the author wrote “Beauty Queen of Jerusalem” which I loved. I was the only one in Book Group who loved this book. Others in the group expressed how they did not like any of the characters and they wondered why I liked it. I loved how it was a historical novel set during the time of the British Mandate which was also the same setting and time of the author’s previous book “Beauty Queen”. I liked that I did not get bored and looked forward to reading it to see what would happen to the characters. Yes, this story is about mother & daughters and the relationships between them and focuses on the trauma inherited from their families. I found myself rooting for all the main characters, especially mother and daughter: Lily and Eliya. While I felt for them, I also had a hard time liking any of the main characters, at times. Lily came off as especially cold and self absorbed throughout most of the story. The book is ultimately about redemption and how one needs to make decisions if one wants to heal and forgivein order to move on.

[Rachel]

Like Sarit Yishai Levi's first novel, The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, this centers around unlikeable women and a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship before and after the creation of the State of Israel. 25-year-old Eliya left her miserable marriage, spiraled into depression, and attempted to take her own life. She never felt loved by her mother Lily, who was still mourning the death of her first child 30+ years prior, visiting his grave every single day. At least she had the love and support of her father, but his blind unconditional devotion to Lily was hard to believe. A difficult read in the beginning, the introduction of more likeable characters like Eliya's Ladino speaking grandparents from Macedonia and her new boyfriend Eldad made the story more compelling. And once it was revealed that Lily's mother, who abandoned her as an infant at the door of a Jerusalem convent, was Ruchel, the young woman from Mea She'arim who Gabriel Armoza's family rejected because she was Ashkenazi (from The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem), I couldn't put it down. Interestingly, her story is depcited completely differently in the television adaptation. 2 1/2 stars because it got better as I read on.

[Em Bee]

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this e-ARC. All opinions are honest and my own.

This is the first book I’ve read set in Israel and I thought it was interesting to see the Jewish culture and history come together. I would like to preface, however, that my reading of this novel does not indicate support for Israel’s apartheid state against Palestinian sovereignty.

Furthermore, I felt that this story lacked in many ways outside of the setting and descriptions. The writing was beautiful, but the dialogue felt clunky and too prosaic to be realistic. There would be long chunks of dialogue that went on for paragraphs and felt more like a soliloquy than a realistic conversation.

One of my favorite parts about literature is reading how characters grow and develop. You can love characters without particularly liking them. Unfortunately, I found myself frustrated with Eliya, Lily, and Shaul the entire book. They were either self-centered, whiny, arrogant, bratty, or a doormat. Their behavior seemed unrealistic and, at times, irredeemable.

I agree with other reviewers in saying that the ending fell flat compared to the lead up to the climax. The constant rape scenes of Rachel’s past felt unnecessary, more like just a way to add to her trauma than truly drive the plot in a meaningful way.

All in all, I personally wouldn’t recommend this book to someone unless they had a horrible mother, kept falling for the worst kinds of guys, and refused to see their need for therapy.

[Sandy]

This story is about mother & daughters and the relationships between them. Eliya is a women, who has had her heart broken, smashed by her husband who she idolized. Lilly, mother to Eliya is a broken women, who can’t get over the death of her son and felt abandon by her mother after Lilly was left at a convent. Each woman, each daughter, each mother, has times in their life when bad things happened. Eliya & Lilly both suffer from bouts of depression and can’t see how similar they are to each other, instead of supporting one another, they are hurtful and ugly to each other. This is a beautifully sad story. Characters are well developed, the story flows and the supporting characters add to the storyline. I felt for these women, each has such wonderful people in their lives but couldn’t see them, couldn’t feel the love freely given to them until they reached bottom. Spoiler, it was wonderful to see how the book wraps up the saga of Eliya, Lilly and Rochel. Each made decisions that ultimately affected the next generation. I believe the lesson of this story is even when life gives you heartache, it is your decision on how to respond, yes our past can influence the decision but you still decide, am I a victim or was this an opportunity to change.

[Maya Rose Gil]

בגדול, אהבתי את 300 העמודים הראשונים, ואת ה170 הנוספים לא ממש.
הפריעו לי כל מיני דברים בספר, הכניעות של הנשים וההדגשה שמי ששמר עליהן, דאג וגרם להן לחזור לחיות מחדש: זה הגבר. הנשים היו יכולות להיות הרבה יותר חזקות, אחרי כל מה שעברו, ובכל זאת הגבר הוא השומר, החזק.
היה לי גם קשה עם כל האומללות, אבל מבינה שזה מרכיב חשוב בספר, לספר על החיים הקשים של כל אחת.
כן מאוד אהבתי את התיאורים ההיסטוריים של ארץ ישראל, מימי המנדט הבריטי ועד שנות ה-70.

[Hpnyknits]

Dysfunctional families pass on dysfunction. Everybody is damaged. Some people deeply.
It was really tragic.

[Chava]

As I was reading, I kept thinking this would be a great book for a book club because it delves into mother-daughter relationships and trauma passed down through families. All the characters are strong and well-developed: Lily, Shaul, Eliya, Eldad. Lily particularly was a complex woman, and the author leaves you wondering whether Lily is a victim or a victimizer.

I loved the strong sense of place in Tel Aviv, and I have an interest in the early history of the modern State of Israel, so I really enjoyed those parts of the book.

There is also a tie-in (no spoilers) to Yishai-Levi's previous book, The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem. I'm still deciding whether or not it was too convenient or an interesting part of the plot.

[Sharon]

Slow beginning better ending. Mother daughter relationships spousal relationships breakups divorce mental illness help of psychiatrist. Meeting a new love. Sadness over the loss of a one year old baby. The mother goes to the cemetery every day to be by the grave. Shows more attention to him than her living daughter. Good explanations of why her living daughter suffers a breakdown when her husband who she devoted herself to leaves her for another muse woman. How the grandmother is found and the unraveling of her story and why she left Lily brings an understanding to all the woman involved. Grandparents and relationships with granddaughter is explained later. Family members are referred to.

[Polly Krize]

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Perhaps due to the translation, I found this book difficult to read. As three generations of women search for their way in the world and in their home in Israel, the exploration of their individual journeys is intriguing. Unfortunately, again the writing seemed awkward and leaden. Only my opinion.

[debra L]

Didn't like the writing at the beginning (always hard to know if its the writing itself OR the translation but almost put it down after the first 30 pages as it just seemed ugly/crass and wasn't sure I wanted to keep reading. I did continue and it got better as got into the story. The last 1/4 also bogged down a little but overall an OK read....

[Arielle Keselman]

Very heartwarming and real story

[Cheryl Sokoloff]

Having just finished reading The Woman Beyond the Sea, I am reminded of how I felt after I finished reading The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem - emotionally drained! If you are looking for a book that will give you the book hangover 🤕, look no further.

[Beth]

A bit long. A story of mental health and a family coming together. Is love enough? Can we survive without it? Can we be happy with in ourselves?

[Kera’s Always Reading]

I tried so HARD with this book! I I gave it way more chances than I have ever given a book that I wasn’t enjoying. It was like a train wreck, though. I couldn’t look away. Ultimately I had to stop! I never like to review books I dnf but it got 65% in and it’s whatever…

These characters all seem like the most ridiculous erosions of themselves they could be. Every person in this book is their own worst version. They are all annoying and incredibly dramatic. They go from 0-100 in seconds… and the writing style doesn’t ease you into anything. It’s like okay, it’s this way and now… it’s that way. Each individual has some big problem that they create themselves, and then instead of going about a solution that makes a lick of sense, they make dumb choice after dumb choice.

The blatant misogyny and gaslighting that takes up so many of these pages was exhausting. And they are all guilty of it. Eliya is a spoiled brat who spends way too much time salivating over a man who doesn’t care about her. He father is this doormat who only breaks character to be scary mean… and her mother Lily is the most neglectful and emotionally abusive woman I have read in the last few years…

This is a big fat NO for me.

[SheReaders Book Club]

Absolutely adored this book. I have more to say but I’m going to save it for a special discussion. If you’re looking to read more Israeli authors, start here!

[Jill Dobbe]

I enjoyed this book; it gave me insight into life in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem's Jewish and Christian cultures. The book centered around one particular woman whose life affected many others. Each character told their own story and which flowed together into a richly moving tale of family and healing.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher of this ARC.

[Gail]

I read The Woman Beyond the Sea in a translated version and thought the story, although very long had some great impact. Part history lesson, part mother daughter craziness in two generations and a big emphasis on healing and the strange journey it takes in so many unexpected forms.

In the beginning we are introduced to Eliya and her true love, a writer who basically turns her from very impressionable young girl into a suicidal basket case when he dumps her in Paris and takes off with his new girlfriend. Eliya freaks out, goes back home, and tries to take her life. Her mother saves her by stopping the blood flowing from her wrists. This is a pivotal act, as the two women have never been close.
This starts the healing process, as Eilya must figure out her life, get divorced and find her new path. At the same time her mother, who is difficult and very shut down, starts to have her own melt downs as she never got over the death of her first child. Even though she is deeply loved by her husband she is plagued by her lack of knowing where she came from as she was raised in a Catholic convent.

Without giving the entire story away, there is a path to healing for both women, their family and their future generations.

My only problem with the book is that is gets repetitive and could have had a finer edit. The story is compelling but get redundant at times.

[Tiffany Rhyan]

Not my cup of tea.

I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I've been trying to broaden my (reading) horizons. Honestly, I did not like this book one bit. I struggled greatly to push through. I felt no connection to any of the characters. This may have been a good book, but it really did not hit the mark for me. Maybe if I had experienced a great loss like either of the two main characters, or if I had a better understanding of Jewish customs, I might have enjoyed the story more.

[Galia]

3.75 stars

[Amanda]

The Woman Beyond the Sea is one of the most difficult books I’ve read, diving into tough themes that impact a range of characters. It begins with Eliya, a young woman in a toxic relationship. It’s an abusive marriage that ends when her no-good husband, Ari, has an affair and unceremoniously leaves Eliya. She returns home to Israel to live with her parents, but her depression leaves her feeling suicidal. The first cracks of light emerge when she begins therapy. The book then explores her mother Lily’s past and the extensive traumas the led to her being such a cold woman in her adulthood. From life in an orphanage to the loss of her firstborn child, Lily’s poor emotional health has been longer-lasting and more pervasive, negatively impacting her relationships both with her husband and her daughter. If all of that trauma sounds like a lot, know that there’s even more I’m not mentioning.

On the one hand, this novel can feel excessively sad. How many horrors must one family face? For some readers, it may be too much. But even so, I liked that the author chose to explore such traumas as she did. It feels like she’s painting a portrait of generational trauma, and of the ways one person’s pain can in turn be inflicted on those around them. Instead of simply wallowing in misery, The Woman Beyond the Sea is about bringing those traumas into the light and openly addressing them. It’s about healing through therapy and opening the lines of communication.

One wonderful aspect of this healing process is seeing Eliya and Lily slowly but surely rebuild their relationship. Despite the chasm between them, they eventually realize the love they share and how the only way to heal is to support each other. This mother-daughter relationship starts in a terrible place, but I loved seeing them grow stronger together.

I also appreciated the characters of Shaul and Eldad. Shaul, in particular, I felt bad for most of the time. His wife Lily is awful to him and isolates him, and yet he never gives up on her. He may be too kind for his own good, but I felt for him and wished his family situation could improve. Eldad has his own traumas, but he proves to be a solid support for Eliya after her divorce.

There is a mystery surrounding Lily’s mother, the titular woman beyond the sea. Whoever she is, and whatever her reason was for giving up her day-old baby, this woman seems to be an important link in the family tree. She’s another part of the generational trauma, but perhaps by finding her, all three generations of women can find inner peace.

Most of this novel is set in Israel, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. I haven’t read much fiction set in Israel, and I loved getting to know this country and its two largest cities. The story also gives a peek into the culture and the people, as well as its recent history of wars and internal conflicts. Religion is another major theme. Lily was brought up in a Christian convent, but later learned she was born to a Jewish mother. Shaul’s family is Jewish, too, and it was interesting learning about both sides of the family in terms of culture and religion.

The Woman Beyond the Sea is translated from Hebrew, and the translation was wonderfully done. It flows well, and although the chapters vary widely in length, the pacing is generally good throughout the novel. It can get repetitive and over-indulgent, but generally I liked the narrative. The open-ended final chapter leaves the story up for interpretation. For me, it felt like the right way to close a book about the cyclical nature of family relationships, trauma, and healing.

The Woman Beyond the Sea is a heavy read, and you may want to review the extensive content warnings before diving in. It’s about mental health, trauma, fraught relationships, and how pain is passed down from one generation to the next. Yet even with all its dark themes, there is also an ember of healing woven in, too. Through therapy, open communication, and seeking out healthy coping mechanisms and relationships, the characters find themselves on the precipice of a new, happier stage of life.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Crossing for providing me with an ARC of this book!

* Please read my full review on my blog, Amanda's Book Corner! *

[M. K. French]

Eliya thought she had the perfect relationship with her novelist husband, but he abandoned her in a Paris cafe. This prompted a suicide attempt, which then also changed her relationship with her prickly mother Lily. Together, the two embarked on a search for Lily's biological mother, who abandoned her at a church one Christmas Eve.

We open with Eliya and her relationship, and Ari honestly isn't anything to write home about. He's a narcissist who drinks, does drugs, commits marital rape (thankfully only one barely there line) and only wants Eliya for the money her father will give her. He had her drop out of university and cater to his every whim, making Eliya believe that it was a worthwhile endeavor. He's gross and someone I wanted to reach through the page to slap, and I wanted to shake Eliya long before her suicide attempt to make her see that he wasn't worth the pain she felt. That's pretty much her mother's approach, however, and she recoils from it. Lily has always been standoffish and brittle; we see her history in chapter three. Because of Lily's upbringing, she was never able to be the warm or compassionate mother that Eliya needed and, therefore, wasn't someone that she could go to when stressed. Her father is too much of a peacemaker to insist that either woman do something they didn't want to do, so the strain in the household continued to increase until the attempt.

I wasn't a fan of how the therapist was depicted, but it was also 1972 and he embodied the stern, paternalistic approach that was used at the time. That being said, it's also a very corrective experience for Eliya. He's firm where her father generally isn't, and her "homework" is to confront her fears and delve into actual conversations with her family. This is what leads to reconnecting with Lily and learning about the past that had been missing. The story weaves through the lives of Lily, Eliya, Shaul, Eldad, and at the end Rachel. There is trauma that followed them through the generations, and the second half of the book goes through their tales once Eliya forgave Lily the emotional distance as a way to protect herself from pain and loss. And that's really what it all came down to: the need for love, acceptance, and belonging. We understand how it all happened, how each move brought on the next, and why each person behaved the way they did. The holding pattern didn't hold forever, and those cracks allowed them to listen in order to forgive the past. As the characters themselves say in some form or another, "We cannot change yesterday, and so all that remains is to live today and pray for tomorrow." Forgiveness is not forgetting where they came from, but acknowledging it and finding a way to start over. There are more tomorrows, more chances to change and learn. It's an emotional and powerful end to the novel, with hope for a better future.

[Mks Bookcorner]

Thank you NetGalley, Publishers, and Sarit Yishai-Levi for gifting me a copy of The Woman Beyond the Sea in return for my honest opinion.

4/5 stars

A mesmerizing novel about three generations of women who have lost each other—and the quest to weave them back into a family.

An immersive historical tale spanning the life stories of three women, The Woman Beyond the Sea traces the paths of a daughter, mother, and grandmother who lead entirely separate lives, until finally their stories and their hearts are joined together.

Eliya thinks that she’s finally found true love and passion with her charismatic and demanding husband, an aspiring novelist—until he ends their relationship in a Paris café, spurring her suicide attempt. Seeking to heal herself, Eliya is compelled to piece together the jagged shards of her life and history.

Eliya’s heart-wrenching journey leads her to a profound and unexpected love, renewed family ties, and a reconciliation with her orphaned mother, Lily. Together, the two women embark on a quest to discover the truth about themselves and Lily’s own origins…and the unknown woman who set their stories in motion one Christmas Eve.

This was a mesmerizing story about three woman who have lost their ways and their journies to find their way back. At the beginning of this novel, I had a difficult time understanding what was happening but I believe that is a translation issue.

This was a historical fiction that was different than any I have read in the past. It was a refreshing change from previous reads. While it does focus on war it was one I had never read about, the Yom Kippur War, it offered a refreshing take and new places for us to explore other than Paris, England, and Scotland. While some aspects did take place in Paris we also were taken to Tel Aviv and Yugoslavia. Two new places I have yet to read about!

I would recommend it to any historical Fiction lovers who are looking for a different country to explore, this is definitely the book for you.

[Bhavya]

A great historical fiction on intergenerational family healing and redemption set in the backdrop of a war trodden Israel. I read this one slowly over a period of two months on Kindle. It is about Lily, who was brought up in an orphanage run by nuns, where her mother (Rochel)had left her because she was born out of sin under unfortunate circumstances and it was beyond her mother’s capacity to look after her. As a child, she always felt left out, lonely and unloved and had a strong desire to know about her roots, about who her mother was but she never succeeded in getting answers until too late in life and carried along the feeling of being unwanted till that point, leading a miserable life, that turned into a series of tragedies, which included losing her first child, not being a good mother to her daughter(Eliya), the second child and then seeing her daughter’s life crumbling in front of her. The only place where she got lucky was in getting a good husband, who supported her in totality even at the cost of ruining his relationship with his own family. I loved his character the most in the story. He is the silent hero, who knows how to hold space when a loved one is suffering. A heroic trait, which often go unnoticed.

Lily’s healing journey starts when Eliya’s life turns upside down and as Eliya heals, she gets the strength to confront her mother, to openly talk to her, help her find her mother (Rochel) and make peace with her past and heal the entire family including her grandparents from both the sides, her father and her boyfriend. Infact, it is a story of mutual healing, where each person is helping the other heal in someway or the other and is getting healed in return. The main message of the story is that life can be very unfair, even tragic, but through forgiveness, compassion, fortitude and the right kind of support, one can heal all the wounds and atone for the sins. As you read the book and get to know the characters, you start to feel for them and to some extent also heal with them. It is a long read, but a brilliant story, worth reading.