The new novel from Michael Lavigne
Schocken Books. Hardcover, ebook, and audio.
On sale February 2, 2027
Preorders help bookstores decide how many copies to stock.
A tale of a lost masterpiece and a family devoted to saving it is the core of this freewheeling romp by Michael Lavigne, author of the post-Holocaust novel Not Me. In this love story that spans a thousand years, the verses and final pilgrimage of the great Andalusian Hebrew poet Yehuda Halevi frame a tale of Jews getting into trouble across centuries and continents, still looking for home.
More about the novel ↓
My heart is in the East and I am at the edge of the West.
Yehuda Halevi, 12th century
Beginning in the 1830s, when an itinerant Viennese book dealer doesn’t know the value of the moldy old Hebrew typescript he has to sell, this novel plays fictional cat and mouse with the historical figure of Halevi, who was shaped by the rich Andalusian culture of 12th-century Muslim Spain and famously wrote “My heart is in the East / And I am at the edge of the West.” Jacob, a salt merchant’s son in Zaragoza, leaves home to follow in the footsteps of the great poet, whose life-ending journey to Jerusalem remains shrouded in mystery. Jacob’s quest interleaves chapters in which each generation, from a well-heeled Jewish son of 14th-century Vaucluse to a 20th-century fish monger in Newark, must ask: where do we Jews truly belong?
Everyone on the merry-go-round of diasporic lives carries a piece of Halevi’s poetry on their bumpy path to enlightenment, and only at the end of this era-spanning human comedy will we learn why their tale is being told, and by whom.
A Russian-born architect survives a bus bombing in Jerusalem, his young daughter keeps a secret diary, and the bomber watches it all unfold.
“A testament to Lavigne’s immense skills as a writer.”Malcolm Forbes, Jewish Renaissance
“An exquisite novel of longing and loss.”Dalia Sofer
A son finds diaries suggesting his father, a Holocaust survivor, was once a Nazi.
“A radiantly imagined portrait of human possibility.”Cynthia Ozick
“Poignancy, real philosophical depth, and a thrilling momentum.”The Baltimore Sun
A sweet, funny, poignant, and unforgettable Christmas love story.
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Michael Lavigne is the author of The Heart of Henry Quantum, The Wanting, Not Me, and now A Song at the Edge of the World. Not Me was the recipient of the first Sami Rohr Choice Award, as well as an ALA Sophie Brodie Honor Book and a Reader’s Circle Book. His works have been translated into several languages. He is a Sami Rohr Fellow, and he developed the curriculum for the Tauber Jewish Studies program at Congregation Emanu-El. He is also a recipient of the Cleo, Palm d’Or, Communication Arts, and Adweek awards from his former life as a creative director and commercial director.
He grew up in Newark and Millburn, New Jersey, did his undergraduate work at Millersville University and the University of Tennessee, and went to graduate school at the University of Chicago. He now lives in San Francisco with his wife, Gayle. And if you contact him, he is very likely to respond.
For signings and events, book club visits, or just to send a note.