Zeev FridmanZeev Fridman (1960–2009) grew up in the former Soviet Union and began writing in his teens, but his writings were non-conformist and never submitted for publication. A gifted clarinetist, he graduated from the Rostov-on-Don State Conservatory n 1984. In 1990, he immigrated to Israel, joined the Israel Sinfonietta Orchestra of Beersheva as a clarinetist, and became a successful music teacher. His short stories, poems, and this novel were discovered posthumously in 2009. “In my youth, I was an idealist. I lived in two different worlds: on the one hand, the ideal world, which consisted of serious music, great literature, beautiful art and lofty ideals of the good, love, and brotherhood—and on the other, the real world, which seemed to me, for the most part, intimidating, hostile, gray and oppressive: a world of banners, square faces on posters, long lines, the imposed conformity of ideas, and hopeless despair…” (Zeev Fridman) Read More Read Less