Woman Beyond the Sea

Sarit Yishai-Levi is a renowned Israeli journalist and author. In 2016 she published her first book, The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem. It immediately became a bestseller and garnered critical acclaim. The book sold more than three hundred thousand copies in Israel, was translated into ten languages, and was adapted into a TV series that won the Israeli TV award for best drama series. It also won the Publishers Association’s Gold, Platinum, and Diamond prizes; the Steimatzky Prize for bestselling book of the year in Israel; and the WIZO France Prize for best book translated into French.Yishai-Levi’s second book, The Woman Beyond the Sea, was published in 2019. It won the Publishers Association’s Gold and Platinum prizes and was adapted for television by Netflix.Yishai-Levi was born in Jerusalem to a Sephardic family that has lived in the city for eight generations. She’s been living with her family in Tel Aviv since 1970.

“[Sarit] Yishai-Levi delivers a multilayered narrative of multiple generations suffering from loss and family destruction against the backdrops of pre–World War II Macedonia, British-managed Israel, and Yom Kippur War–era Tel Aviv.…[Her] characters demand empathy as well as attention from readers.” —Kirkus Reviews“The measured pacing allows readers to take in the rich historic detail—Paris’s Latin Quarter, Tel Aviv after the Yom Kippur War, pre–World War II Yugoslavia, and Jerusalem under the British Mandate—as the family members struggle with loss and abandonment. Thanks to the memorable characters and solid plot, this has much to offer.” —Publishers Weekly“This story is beautifully written…The difficult birth of a nation is reflected in and indelibly marked upon the lives of Eliya and Lily, and all are stronger for the disasters they have survived.” —Booklist“A deftly scripted and inherently engaging read from first page to last, author Sarit Yishai-Levi's The Woman Beyond the Sea is a compelling and original story that will linger in the mind of the reader long after the book itself has been finished and set back upon the shelf.” —Midwest Book Review“The plot is woven with great details about Paris, Tel Aviv, Yugoslavia, and Jerusalem. The characters are memorable, the story is well-paced, and the ending is redeeming…Recommended.” —Historical Novels Review