Israeli Authors Discussion Group

January’s read is The Slaughterman’s Daughter by Yaniv Iczkovitz.  This sprawling novel, winner of the 2021 Wingate Prize, is set in the Pale of Settlement at the end of the 19th century.  Mende Speisman’s husband has run off, leaving her an impoverished agunah.  Mende’s sister Fanny, described as the “vilde chaye’ (wild child) of the village, sets off to find her brother-in-law, and a madcap adventure ensues.