Four Mothers

A rich and sweeping family saga set in Israel over a century, about five remarkable Jewish mothers. Amal, after giving birth to a son, and thereby breaking the curse of the women of her family explores the lives of her mother, the wayward Geula, her grandmother Pnina Mazal who can read minds, her great grandmother, the legendary beauty, Sara, and her great great grandmother, Mazal, who was forced to marry young and was abandoned by her husband after giving birth, thus setting the trend of single motherhood which each of the women in the family would be burdened with. Full of sites and signs and undercurrents , and many other characters and persons that burst from the pages. It is an epic rich in humanity, erotic, ironic, and full of twists and turns, that will stay in your mind long after you have read it. It traces the many generations of Jews that have lived in Jerusalem, in a sensitive and thoughtful way. Sadly some people in the world cannot recognize humanity. When Shifra Horn appeared on Australian radio to discuss this totally non-political book, the talk show host aggressively interrogated her on the supposed sins of Israel's government, ignoring the book she had come to talk about. Some people in the world refuse to recognize the humanity of Israel's Jews, dehumanizing them in such a way that resembles Europe before the Holocaust.

While reading the first page of Four Mothers I had the strong feeling I would read this novel in one long night. My feelings were right: this novel is irrisistable and I could almost feel the warmth of the stones of Jerusalem, almost touch the women, smell the odeurs of roses, identify with the passionate love between the main character and her lover.The style is suggestive and enchanting, the story is placed in Jerusalem and contains almost 150 years of the roaring Israeli history. The women are strong and therefore Four Mothers is lightly-femenistic, allthough many man reacted very positive on this novel, because Shifra Horn is capable to awake feminin feelings in men.Main character is Sara, who has a extraordinary beauty and she is blessed with a great performance. She is the leading woman in the novel and is almost a mythical figure, 'the woman of women', I could call her. The magic realistic component in Horn's novel is stirringly brought out in Sara and many readers went to the Mount of Olives to visit her grave, but they forgot Four Mothers is pure fiction. A perfect example of the strength of this convincing novel.Four Mothers is the best novel I've read in years: strong and full of passion.Peter van Beek M.A. Literary reviewer, HN-Magazine, The Netherlands

Beginning with the orphan Mazal, four generations of women in Jerusalem were beset by a curse of failed marriages and absent fathers. Continuing Mazal's curse were her golden-haired daughter Sarah, her cat-loving grand-daughter Pnina-Mazal, and her rebellious spikey red-headed great-granddaughter Geula. The curse was set to end with the birth of a healthy baby boy to Mazal's great-great grandaughter Amal. An especially interesting character was Sarah's son Yitzchak, who although retarded and mute (except for the word "food") had a continuing role throughout the book.Rich in detail and with a perfect use of magical realism, I found this story and the writing delightful. Some parts were funny in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. It was like reading a cross between Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Amoz Oz. There is so much in this story that by the time I reached the end, I almost forgot what happened in the beginning. No problem. That was just an invitation to reread this book! You'll savor every sentence for the feeling and humor with which Amal's story is told.

THE BOOK IS WELL WRITTEN WITH A WEALTH OF DESCRIPTIONS OF JERUSALEM AS IT WAS ONCE ,WITH A WONDERFUL MINGLING OF FANTACY AND ACTUAL HISTORICAL HAPPENINGS THAT TRANSPORTS YOU MOST SUCCESSFULLY TO A ROMANTIC AND EXCITING PERIOD. THE TREATMENT OF WOMAN AS THE STRONG AND DOMINENT HERO ADDS ANOTHER STRONG DIMENSION. I GREATLY ENJOYED THE BOOK AND WOULD SUGGEST FOR ALL TO ENBARK ON THE SAME JURNEY .

Shifra Horn's lyrical and imagined novel spans five generations of women and one hundred years of life in Jerusalem. Horn wrote a wonderful work of historical fiction that kept me interested from beginning to the end. I wept. I laughed and I found myself in each chapter in the book. I found love and despair, hope and hopelessness, humor, compassion and deep understanding.