Casual Encounters

Casual Encounters is a sweeping contemporary novel of love, science, and survival, where private choices unfold against the backdrop of global conflict.
Eliana has devoted her life to medical research, pushing boundaries in the fight against epidemics. When a new virus erupts in Southeast Asia, hospitals collapse under its advance. As international agencies stall in endless debate, she defies protocol: without informing her superiors, she secretly sends an experimental treatment to the epicenter of the outbreak. It is a bold act of conscience, an unapproved drug, hidden in envelopes, knowing that bureaucracy may kill faster than the disease itself.
At the same time, her daughter Lilit rejects the rigid expectations imposed on her since childhood. Seeking independence, she escapes to the Mediterranean coast, where she meets Leo Weber, a journalist carrying a complex family history. What begins as a playful encounter grows into a bond charged with passion, complicity, and revelations that connect their pasts in unexpected ways.
But neither Eliana nor Lilit can ignore the larger forces shaping their lives. Religious authorities dictate what must be, binding entire communities under the weight of tradition and moral dogma. Terrorist networks exploit unrest, wielding violence to impose fear and obedience. Against this reality, every decision-scientific, personal, or romantic, becomes an act of defiance, of survival, of faith in the possibility of change.
From research labs to Mediterranean beaches, from intimate family struggles to the turbulence of Paris, Casual Encounters interweaves two journeys: a mother risking her career and freedom to fight a global threat, and a daughter searching for her own voice in a world torn between duty and desire.
With vivid settings and characters caught between conscience and survival, the novel asks: How far should we go against authority to save lives? How do we reclaim freedom when both tradition and terror seek to define us? And can love thrive amid the clash of science, religion, and violence?
Emotional, intense, and thought-provoking, Casual Encounters is a novel for readers of contemporary fiction who enjoy romantic suspense, women's fiction, and stories where passion and responsibility collide.

Yael Goldmann is a journalist, novelist, and life coach whose work explores the intersections of politics, memory, and the intimate struggles of the human heart. Born in Argentina and shaped by life across multiple continents, her writing reflects a deep understanding of exile, identity, and resilience. Her novels are known for their emotional depth, vivid historical settings, and powerful female protagonists who navigate complex personal and political landscapes.