pstrongNational Bestseller strong- strongemA New York Timesem Notable BookstrongppstrongNamed Best Book of the Year byem Esquire, Times Literary Supplement, Elle Magazine, LitHub, Publishers Weekly, Financial Times, Guardian, Refinery29, PopSugar, emandem Globe and MailemstrongppstrongA brilliant novel. I am full of admiration. --Philip RothstrongppOne of America's most important novelists emNew York Timesem, the award-winning, emNew York Timesem bestselling author of emThe History of Loveem, conjures an achingly beautiful and breathtakingly original novel about personal transformation that interweaves the stories of two disparate individuals--an older lawyer and a young novelist--whose transcendental search leads them to the same Israeli desert.ppJules Epstein, a man whose drive, avidity, and outsized personality have, for sixty-eight years, been a force to be reckoned with, is undergoing a metamorphosis. In the wake of his parents' deaths, his divorce from his wife of more than thirt