Minotaur

A major Cold War hit in the U.K. (a blurb from Graham Greene!), this 1981 novel gets much of its bite from the reputation of the Israeli spy network, of which its protagonist is a major, covert player. A melancholic 41, he's married and on a mission in London when, on a bus, he sees a girl of 17 or so with a ribbon tied just so in her hair. When she turns in profile and he sees her features, he is instantly smitten. Using his expertise, he gets Thea's name and address, and begins writing to her and gives her a way of getting letters to him. They correspond for seven years, both revealing extremely high levels of cultivation, until her engagement to a man her age, G.R., threatens the relationship. The protagonist deals with him, or so it seems, accordingly. Her next lover, a few years later, meets a similar fate. As it comes time for our man to finally reveal himself to Thea, his job may prove a final impediment. After the denouement, his identity is traced in flashbacks that recapitulate the history of Israel and a particular sort of early immigrant's experience there. Tammuz has real insight into obsessive, star-crossed love, but the prose throughout is stiff and dated. This suspenseful love story really requires pre-Oslo Israeli and bipolar geopolitics as its background noise. (Oct.)