Shalom India Housing Society

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Set in fictional society in Ahmedabad formed after the communal riots of 2002, Shalom India Housing Society weaves together the lives of its residents through a series of stories that capture the dilemmas of the last Bene Israel Jews in India. How are their relations with other communities changing? Ought they to leave? Where can they go? Do they belong in India, or in Israel? Will they feel at home in Israel? Drawing readers into the world of a microscopic community, the novel traces misunderstandings between parents and children, lovers and neighbours, in stories that are by turns hilarious, bitter-sweet and heartwarming. The spirit of the affectionate, sometimes eccentric, Prophet Elijah, to whom the characters turn in their trouble, suffuses the novel. Esther David probes the shifting layers of religious and national identity – from the way people dress, to the textures, tastes, and colours in which people dream of homelands imagined or left behind – in prose that is understated but always engaging.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Esther David

Esther David, author of The Walled City, Book of Esther and a collection of short stories, By the Sabarmati, has edited an anthology of earthquake stories and co-authored Indiaâ€™s Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-cycle. She is published in French and her work is included in the library of modern Jewish literature, Syracuse University Press, New York. Esther David belongs to a Bene Israel family of Ahmedabad and grew up in a zoo created by her father.