Page 18 - Shalom Toronto Lifestyle Passover 2020

GILA GREEN’S BOOKS
Gila Green, Author
Ibegan sending out short stories to literary magazines in 2005. Once I published one, I was hooked and after two years, I had published two dozen. It took me two more years to write my first novel, King of the Class. I went on to write Passport Control, to assemble White Zion from my published short stories, to write A Prayer Apart and finally, No Entry and its sequel No Fly Zone. These works went through years of rejections, revisions, and a world of perseverance. Then it all happened at once: in a 13- month period Passport Control, White Zion and No Entry were released. I've enjoyed giving book talks from Tel Aviv to Toronto, meeting people all over the world, and learning from professionals from the USA to Australia and I look forward to 2020.
King of the Class
(Debut novel published in 2013 with NON Publishing, Vancouver)
Synopsis
Eve and Manny are engaged in post-civil war Israel, but Manny has a secret: he’s falling in love with his religious roots and turning his back on moral relativism. As their wedding date approaches, Manny deserts Eve, and in the midst of this betrayal Eve collides with a pre- soul, leaving her with a choice: reconcile with Manny or else condemn a soul to never living. More than a decade later, Eve has her own secret, one that may save her only son’s life or else tear her family apart.
Page 18 SHALOM TORONTO Passover 2020
Excerpt from “King of the Class” Eve is alone in a kibbutz guest room. With her eyes closed she can smell Manny’s cologne on the pillow next to her and she sneezes. She reaches for a tissue as she recalls the sales robot’s assurance of only natural fragrances. Holding her hand up to the light, she smiles at her new ring. She turns her hand so that the diamond catches in the sunlight. The squared-off stone is flanked on both sides by each of their birthstones; for April babies that means two smaller, identical diamonds. Eve considers their shared birthstone a sign of fortune.
Passport Control
(Published August 2018 with S&H Publishing, Virginia)
Synopsis
Miriam Gil knows little about Israel. Her father won’t talk about his life there or the brother he left behind when he came to Canada. Hurt and angry when he tells her to move out to make room for his new girlfriend, she enrolls in an Israeli university. She falls in love with Guy, a former combat soldier who dreams of peace. Miriam is caught off guard when her visa and passport application are rejected on the grounds that she’s suspected of being a Syrian Christian. In rapid order, the university boots her out, her one friend is killed in a brawl, and Miriam is accused of murder by Israeli police. Despite troubling revelations about her father’s past, Miriam must reconcile with him if she is to prove her innocence, reclaim her life, and hang on to her newfound love.
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