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At the age of twelve, Eva Salomon becomes disillusioned about all the “isms” raging through her world. Crushed by her father’s rigid Jewish orthodoxy and by the cruelties of a burgeoning Nazi regime, she renounces all belief systems, and even belief itself. Five years later, when she and her father leave Germany for Palestine, she’s still a skeptic, yet hopeful about a fresh start in an unborn country. But her yearning for unfettered freedom soon puts her at odds with collective pressures in the new-old homeland.
Eva finds love with a man who is anything but “kosher.” Duncan Rees is a British constable in the Palestine Police Force. As a gentile, he’s taboo even in the secular circles of a society forging its new nationalist identity. What’s more, he represents the British Mandate government, a regime seen to increasingly impede Zionist dreams for a Jewish state in the contested country. And so the relationship hits obstacles right from the start. Set during complex upheaval of Palestine in the 1930s and ’40s, Eva Salomon’s War tells of the struggle to find a faith that doesn’t blind, a love that doesn’t lie and solid human truths in the midst of ideological ferment. |
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“One can’t help but read the novel through the prism of the tragic unfolding of events since 1948. Goliger vividly illustrates the human urgencies propelling Arabs and Jews in all directions, and the emotional realities behind all the ideologies.” — Review by Deborah Yaffe, Jewish Independent
“At its core, Goliger’s novel is about one human being trying to transcend religion, politics and fanaticism, and the story is beautifully told. It is a tribute to Goliger that she manages to make the story so accessible to all readers. Through it, we walk away with a better understanding of a period that traditional historical accounts continue to clash over for political reasons.” — Reviewed by Ian Thomas Shaw, The Ottawa Review of Books
“The first person narrator of this absorbing historical novel is Eva Solomon, who is writing about her life during the most important years of the 20th century: the years leading up to the Second World War, the war itself, and the years following it. Not another war novel, you say? Yes, a fresh and fascinating take on this period, partly because of its setting in what is now Israel: the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem of the British Mandate.” — Debra Martens, Review, Canadian Writers Abroad
“Eva Salomon's War will introduce the uninitiated to a chaotic and confusing time in the life of the Jewish people and the Jewish state. But, it is so filled with wonderfully drawn episodes of history, that even those familiar with the period will be glad they refreshed their memories.” — Rabbi Steven Garten, Review, Ottawa Jewish Bulletin
“With grace and a good deal of insight, Gabriella Goliger paints a vivid picture of the life of Eva Salomon and her uprooted family during the early 1930s in Breslau, Germany, and then in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem during the years leading up to 1948. This is the story of one woman’s difficult and at times painful journey, a journey of rebellion and love, of survival and of ‘becoming.’ Eva, with her traditional Jewish background, may be small in stature, but she can, at times and in desperation, be daring and large in spirit. The story takes place inside a broader world of danger and turmoil, and brilliantly reveals the complex relations experienced by the British, Jewish and Arab populations of Palestine. The smells and sounds and sights of the streets and the varied people who populate them during this historic period are brought to life in the strong, assured writing we have come to expect from Goliger.” — Frances Itani, author of That’s My Baby
“I felt as though I had been on a journey to mid-century Palestine after reading Eva Salomon’s War. Every detail is charged and real, the most minor characters speak with compelling voices. This novel is infused not just with Gabriella Goliger’s meticulous research, but with her deep sympathy for her subject, a fiercely alive young woman coming into her own in a world where every value is up for grabs.” — Joan Thomas, prize-winning author and noted journalist
“A superb account of life in Palestine under the British Mandate between 1938 and 1948 . . . Captures brilliantly the tension between generations, racial prejudice, the atmosphere of the time, the tension between the British and the Arabs or the British and the Jews. With its well-researched natural, political and historical context, the novel discloses in a most truthful, yet unobtrusive, manner a period still unknown to many.” — Prof. Dr. Danielle Schaub, Oranim Academic College of Education, Israel
“At its core, Goliger’s novel is about one human being trying to transcend religion, politics and fanaticism, and the story is beautifully told. It is a tribute to Goliger that she manages to make the story so accessible to all readers. Through it, we walk away with a better understanding of a period that traditional historical accounts continue to clash over for political reasons.” — Reviewed by Ian Thomas Shaw, The Ottawa Review of Books
“The first person narrator of this absorbing historical novel is Eva Solomon, who is writing about her life during the most important years of the 20th century: the years leading up to the Second World War, the war itself, and the years following it. Not another war novel, you say? Yes, a fresh and fascinating take on this period, partly because of its setting in what is now Israel: the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem of the British Mandate.” — Debra Martens, Review, Canadian Writers Abroad
“Eva Salomon's War will introduce the uninitiated to a chaotic and confusing time in the life of the Jewish people and the Jewish state. But, it is so filled with wonderfully drawn episodes of history, that even those familiar with the period will be glad they refreshed their memories.” — Rabbi Steven Garten, Review, Ottawa Jewish Bulletin
“With grace and a good deal of insight, Gabriella Goliger paints a vivid picture of the life of Eva Salomon and her uprooted family during the early 1930s in Breslau, Germany, and then in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem during the years leading up to 1948. This is the story of one woman’s difficult and at times painful journey, a journey of rebellion and love, of survival and of ‘becoming.’ Eva, with her traditional Jewish background, may be small in stature, but she can, at times and in desperation, be daring and large in spirit. The story takes place inside a broader world of danger and turmoil, and brilliantly reveals the complex relations experienced by the British, Jewish and Arab populations of Palestine. The smells and sounds and sights of the streets and the varied people who populate them during this historic period are brought to life in the strong, assured writing we have come to expect from Goliger.” — Frances Itani, author of That’s My Baby
“I felt as though I had been on a journey to mid-century Palestine after reading Eva Salomon’s War. Every detail is charged and real, the most minor characters speak with compelling voices. This novel is infused not just with Gabriella Goliger’s meticulous research, but with her deep sympathy for her subject, a fiercely alive young woman coming into her own in a world where every value is up for grabs.” — Joan Thomas, prize-winning author and noted journalist
“A superb account of life in Palestine under the British Mandate between 1938 and 1948 . . . Captures brilliantly the tension between generations, racial prejudice, the atmosphere of the time, the tension between the British and the Arabs or the British and the Jews. With its well-researched natural, political and historical context, the novel discloses in a most truthful, yet unobtrusive, manner a period still unknown to many.” — Prof. Dr. Danielle Schaub, Oranim Academic College of Education, Israel
“Eva Salomon’s War: Two Ottawa authors discuss their female protaganists — and the line between fact and fiction” — Ottawa Magazine
“Book Review: Goliger” by Carman Cumming, The Oscar
Artists' Tales Podcast
“Book Review: Goliger” by Carman Cumming, The Oscar
Artists' Tales Podcast
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