ADVANCE PRAISE FOR

ALMOST TRUE: STORIES FROM JERUSALEM

“The wonderful short stories of Tal Shalev capture big and small moments of life in Jerusalem. Full of humor, wisdom of the heart, and compassion, they reveal the human heart of men and women, young and old, Jews and non-Jews, in times of peace and war. They paint a rare portrait of an ancient and disputed city, seen through the precious life of its inhabitants. A portrait seldom told.”

—Michal Govrin, author of The Name and Mother's Silence

“With the keen eye of a seasoned observer and the genuine understanding of a participant in Israeli life, Tal Shalev has written short stories that are as engaging as a well-composed photograph.”

—Samuel Heilman, Author, The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson

“Tal Shalev writes about Israeli life the way the best short fiction writers write about anywhere — from the inside out, with dark humor and devastating precision.”

—Tovsa Herzl, commentator and author of Madame Ambassador (italicize Madame Ambassador)

“Tal Shalev's heartfelt stories relate the complex multiplicity and sometimes zaniness of Israel in our current time. You'll meet members of a struggling kibbutz, former Tel Aviv tent protesters now comfortably ensconced in the systems they had been protesting, a wedding party in which both bride and groom are secretly taking Ozempic, a Druze couple haunted by secrets, a secular Jew who feels compelled to say Kadish for eleven months after his father dies, a Bedouin teenager, and many other characters. These are people who remain after the dream has left or changed, nudged forward by a need for meaning and connection.

—Marcela Sulak

Author of The Fault & City of Sky Papers

“If you’ve spent any time in Israel, you’ll recognize so many of the marvelous characters in Tal Shalev’s wonderful stories. And if you haven’t, you’ll be delighted to meet such honest and authentic people, each with a worthwhile story to share.

-Fran Kritz, Contributing Reporter, NPR

“Tal Shalev has a photographer’s eye, an anthropologist’s ear, a psychologist’s insight, and a historian’s sense of irony. In these stories, he captures the ethnic, religious, and political mosaic of Israeli life with remarkable economy and precision. By turns funny, moving, and unsettling, they leave the reader smiling, grieving, and thinking."

—Jerry Z. Muller, historian, author, Professor of Apocalypse:The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes