The Hilltop

An NPR 'Great Read of 2014'
A brilliant and hilarious satirical novel about the state of twenty-first century Israel
On a rock-strewn hilltop in the heart of the West Bank stands a lone second-hand shipping container, a generator and some goats. On this contested land, Othniel Assis – under the wary gaze of the neighbouring Palestinian village – installs his ever-expanding family. As he cheerfully manipulates government agencies, more settlers arrive and, with a hodge-podge of bankers, teachers, kibbutzniks and townies, religious and secular, the outpost takes root. But when a curious journalist stumbles into their midst, the settlement becomes the focus of an international diplomatic scandal.

Assaf Gavron is the author of seven books, and his fiction has been translated into ten languages. He has won the Israeli Prime Minister's Creative Award for Authors, the Buch für die Stadt award in Germany, and the Prix Courrier International award in France. The son of English immigrants, he grew up in a small village near Jerusalem, and currently lives in Tel Aviv.
Steven Cohen attended the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is a freelance writer, copyeditor, editor and translator.