The Teacher

Ben-Naftali’s captivating English-language debut is based on events of a Holocaust survivor’s life and subsequent suicide, as imagined by one of her former students. Elsa Weiss, an English teacher in Tel Aviv, is the favorite instructor of the nameless narrator. The narrator and her fellow students are fascinated by and afraid of their teacher, who they sense is hiding a mystery, though they are incapable of comprehending her hidden trauma. At 60, Weiss doesn’t even bother learning student’s names and seems different from their other teachers. The narrator grows up and becomes a teacher and remains mystified by Weiss. As an adult, she fictionalizes the path Weiss travels from her native Hungary after being separated from her parents in 1944 as she and her husband depart on a Kastner train to Palestine. The narrator imagines the atrocities that befall Weiss in the Bergen-Belsen camp and dreams that Weiss taught the imprisoned children. After her release from a sanatorium, Weiss learns the war is over, reunites with her brother’s family in Tel Aviv, and obtains a divorce. In researching Weiss, the narrator does some footwork and meets other survivors who tell her of the atrocities they witnessed. This heartbreaking novel is highlighted by Ben-Naftali’s spare prose and insightful observations. The author seamlessly blends history and fiction to forge a riveting novel. (Jan.)