Hannah Groff

Hannah Groff is the main character. The novel is a fictional memoir that she’s written about the events surrounding her exploration of Israeli writer David Bellen’s murder.

Hannah’s parents are Jews, but Hannah has rejected the religion and much of the culture surrounding it. She never learned to speak Hebrew, though her father, Lawrence, wanted her to. It’s because of her father’s desire to bring Hannah into the folds of Judaism that Gila Konig comes into their lives. Gila is Hannah’s Hebrew teacher and becomes Hannah’s caregiver and Lawrence’s lover for a short period during Hannah’s mother’s illness and after her death.

It’s the affair between Gila and Lawrence that shapes Hannah’s life. She’s 12 when it happens and it ends when she lets her father know she doesn’t approve. She doesn’t see...