Where the Desert Meets the Sea

An illuminating and heart-stirring historical novel set in post-WWII Palestine, where the boundaries of love and friendship are challenged by the intractable conflicts of war.

Jerusalem, 1947: Judith, a young Jewish survivor of the Dachau concentration camp, arrives in Mandatory Palestine, seeking refuge with her only remaining relative, her uncle. When she learns that he has died, she tries to take her own life in despair.

After awakening in the hospital, Judith learns that Hana, a Muslim Arab nurse, has saved her life by donating her own blood. While the two women develop a fragile bond, each can’t help but be drawn deeper into the political machinations tearing the country apart. After witnessing the repeated attacks inflicted on the Jews, Judith makes the life-changing decision to join the Zionist fight for Jerusalem. And Hana’s star-crossed love for Dr. David Cohen, an American Jew out of his element and working only to save lives, will put her own life in danger.

Then the political situation worsens. When tensions erupt, a shocking act of violence threatens Judith and Hana’s friendship—and the destinies of everyone they love.

Werner Sonne worked for German broadcaster ARD for more than forty years as a radio and TV correspondent, during which time he covered the German government while living in Bonn and Berlin. He was also based in Washington, DC, and the former Eastern Bloc in Poland, and he had assignments in Moscow. He started to travel the Middle East extensively in 1973 when he reported on the Yom Kippur War in Israel and kept returning to the troubled region’s front lines—including during the Afghanistan conflict. From 2004 to 2012, he hosted ARD’s Berlin-based Morgenmagazin show. Since then, he has written about foreign and security policy for daily newspapers and magazines and has penned nonfiction books on similar topics. He is also the author of several political thrillers and historical novels.

Steve Anderson is a translator, an editor, and a novelist. His latest novel is Lost Kin (2016). Anderson was a Fulbright Fellow in Munich, Germany. He translated Where the Desert Meets the Sea while on a residency at the Europäisches Übersetzer-Kollegium (European Translator College) in Straelen, Germany, with support from the Kunststiftung NRW (Arts Foundation of North Rhine-Westphalia). He expresses his heartfelt thanks to both organizations for their tireless efforts toward advancing the craft of literary translation. He lives in Portland, Oregon. Learn more about him at www.stephenfanderson.com.