Alexandrian Summer

Post-war Alexandria, a lush paradise by the sea, comes to antic, full-bodied life in Gormezano Goren%E2%80%99s first book to be translated into English. It%E2%80%99s the summer of 1951, and wide-eyed 10-year-old Robby welcomes the vacationing Hamdi-Alis, another Jewish family, to whom Robby%E2%80%99s Sephardic Jewish parents sublet rooms. Robby and 11-year-old Victor Hamdi-Ali enjoy clandestine sexual play. Victor%E2%80%99s perfect 23-year-old brother David, a hotshot horse jockey, courts Robby%E2%80%99s older sister, who%E2%80%99s hesitant to leave her beloved family%E2%80%94"who gave her complete freedom"%E2%80%94for marriage, "that constant friction with a stranger... always... the same man, morning, noon, and night." The cast of characters also includes a cohort of older Ladino women, who bring levity even as riots break out. Interrogated by anti-Zionist protestors, Robby%E2%80%99s grandmother and a friend declare, "We%E2%80%99re Greek, are we not...?" although "her face attested louder than a hundred witnesses to her Jewish identity." Ultimately, it%E2%80%99s the Hamdi-Ali patriarch, Joseph%E2%80%94once the Turkish Yusuf%E2%80%94who embodies rising Arab-Jewish tensions. As David competes on the race track with the "unbeatable" Muslim jockey Al-Tal%E2%80%99ooni, Joseph%E2%80%99s doubts about his own loyalties, and his fears of Allah%E2%80%99s punishment for his conversion to Judaism, prompt him toward increasingly desperate acts. Gormezano Goren%E2%80%99s characters are vividly depicted as they grow up or grow older in a city of conflicting loyalties, riven by resentment, ready to revolt. Readers will be transported to an Alexandria full of "unending Mediterranean energy." (May)