The Woman Beyond the Sea

Set in Mandatory Palestine, Yishai-Levi’s (The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem) lyrical, affecting book tells the story of three generations of Jewish women. The women are bound together by blood, long-held secrets, and their heartbreaking search for a mother’s love. Lily, who as a one-day-old infant was abandoned and placed on the doorstep of a Jerusalem convent, lived with the emotionally distant and sometimes cruel sisters until she ran away at age 10. She yearns to know why her mother did not want her. Lily has lost a one-year-old son and is unable to relate to or care for her daughter, Eliya. As a result, Eliya is also desperate for a mother’s love. A series of unforeseen tragic circumstances have significantly affected the women’s lives and scarred them emotionally. Excellent narration by Gail Shalen’s and Tavia Gilbert bring out the characters’ raw emotions and communicate the heart-rending ramifications of their difficult choices.