Summary

The novel begins with the mystery of 68-year-old Jules Epstein's disappearance from a desert near Tel Aviv, where he has been living for three months. His children, Lucie, Jonah, and Maya, have no idea where he has gone or why he was in Israel to begin with, as he had become increasingly strange and withdrawn before traveling there. His whole life had been centered around earning money (as a successful lawyer) but he had recently begun giving away his expensive possessions. He divorced his wife, Lianne, with little explanation. The narrator says that Jules had been moved by a book of poetry given to him by his daughter Maya, written by an Israeli poet. The trip to Israel seems to have something to do with his parents' recent deaths, as Jules wanted to secure a legacy or memorial for them.

The narrator...