Tammuz, Benjamin

New York. 1981. New American Library. 1st Printing. Some Foxing to Top Edge, Otherwise Very Good in Slightly Worn Dustjacket. 0453004016. Translated from the Hebrew by Kim Parfitt & Mildred Budny. 210 pages. hardcover. . keywords: Literature Translated Israel . FROM THE PUBLISHER - He first sees her on a bus in London. With her dark copper hair, dark honey eyes, refined looks and aristocratic bearing, she is clearly the mysterious young woman he has been searching for as long as he can remember. She is Thea, a beautiful young girl, imaginative and romantic, sheltered and untouched. He is her phantom suitor, a top secret agent, unseen and unknown except through the torrent of love letters with which he is slowly bewitching her heart and soul. Thus begins an extraordinary novel of obsessive desire and quietly accelerating suspense that moves through Europe and the Middle East and takes the reader through a strange labyrinth of relationships and into hidden recesses of the human heart and mind. With Thea, we await each new letter overflowing with secret messages that barely hint at her admirer's identity while assuring her that he is instantly aware of her every action, her every thought. We search the face of everyone she comes in contact with, hoping somehow to unmask the elusive lover who is tyrannically ruling her life. And finally, we watch breathlessly as Thea grows weary of endless waiting and reaches out to another - only to discover how swift and terrible is the vengeance of the man whose hunger for beauty and innocence has driven him beyond the bounds of reason. Brilliantly translated from the Hebrew, this haunting, mystical novel is both a startling love story and a taut thriller that draws us deep into the shadow-filled world of passion and betrayal. Beautifully constructed and elegant in style, Minotaur introduces us to a literary talent that ranks with such masters as Malamud and Nabokov. inventory #6946 ISBN: 0453004016.