Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the prize of empires, the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today's clash of civilizations. From King David to Barack Obama, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict, this is the epic history of three thousand years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and coexistence. How did this small, remote town become the Holy City, the "center of the world" and now the key to peace in the Middle East? In a gripping narrative, Simon Sebag Montefiore reveals this ever-changing city in its many incarnations, bringing every epoch and character blazingly to life. Jerusalem's biography is told through the wars, love affairs and revelations of the men and women -- kings, empresses, prophets, poets, saints, conquerors and whores -- who created, destroyed, chronicled and believed in Jerusalem. As well as the many ordinary Jerusalemites who have left their mark on the city, its cast varies from Solomon, Saladin and Suleiman the Magnificent to Cleopatra, Caligula and Churchill; from Abraham to Jesus and Muhammad; from the ancient world of Jezebel, Nebuchadnezzar, Herod and Nero to the modern times of the Kaiser, Disraeli, Mark Twain, Lincoln, Rasputin, Lawrence of Arabia and Moshe Dayan. Drawing on new archives, current scholarship, his own family papers and a lifetime's study, Montefiore illuminates the essence of sanctity and mysticism, identity and empire in a unique chronicle of the city that many believe will be the setting for the Apocalypse. This is how Jerusalem became Jerusalem, and the only city that exists twice -- in heaven and on earth. - Publisher.

In 1966, Lesley Hazleton went to Israel for a two-week vacation - she discovered the seductive city of Jerusalem and stayed for thirteen years. During this time Hazleton, a British Jew, became a seasoned journalist, experienced the Six Days War, and made her first pilgrimage through the Old City to the Western Wall. She left Israel in 1979, but it was like ending a passionate love affair: Hazleton could not break the intense emotional times that bound her to Jerusalem, and she returned year after year. Jerusalem, Jerusalem is set during Hazleton's "farewell" visit in 1984, and it chronicles her own personal struggle to come to terms with what this troubled country means to her. Veering between the past and present, this poignant memoir traces the political and environmental changes that have transformed Israel since the Six Days War, and addresses the ever-growing conflict between religious and secular Jews. Lesley Hazleton explores the divisions of souls - Israel's and her own - as she paints an intimate, honest, and compelling portrait of a city living on the brink of war and peace.

Shulamit, a biblical scholar from England, returns to her grandparents' home in Jerusalem for a visit after an absence of many years. Almost immediately she becomes embroiled in a family feud over possession of the so-called Shepher Codex, a mysterious and valuable manuscript which has been discovered in the attic. In tracing the origins of the Codex she uncovers the history of the Shepher family itself: of her great-grandfather, who traveled to Babylon in search of the ten lost tribes; of her grandfather, a dreamer whose Zionist ideals brought him into conflict with his religion; of her parents, and their tormented love affair; and of her own orphaned and unhappy past. At the same time, she struggles to find answers to pressing questions: what is the significance of the Codex and where does it come from? Who is the stranger, Gideon, who is desperate to enlist her help? Above all, whom does the Codex belong to and what part must Shula play in its destiny? Set against the backdrop of a changing Jerusalem over a hundred and thirty years, The Genizah at the House of Shepher is a large-canvas novel of exile and belonging, displacement, and the quest for both love and a true promised land.

"Uncle Aron's compliments, which hadn't changed since the days of the Bible, didn't sound so great. One time, he told my mother that she was 'awesome like an army with flags.' Another time, he informed her that 'your nose is like the tower of Lebanon." Meet the village it took to raise Gil Hovav - colorful aunts and uncles hailing from one of the most respected lineages in the Jewish world (Hovav is the great-grandson of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the reviver of the Hebrew language). This book includes twenty-two funny and heart-warming stories awash with love and longing for the people who raised one skinny and cross-eyed Jerusalemite boy to love poor-man's food, to love proper Hebrew and, most importantly, to love people. The nostalgic writing is dished up with more than twenty delicious family recipes with the seal of approval from Gil Hovav, the man who has played a major role in the remaking of Israeli cuisine and the transformation of Israel from a country of basic traditional foods into a "gourmet nation". Readers get to chuckle at Hovav's amusing recollections and salivate over his family recipes for sweet sour chorba tomato soup and his Aunt Levana's eggplant and feta bourekas. If you've ever wondered how to make hilbeh or slow-cooked eggs (or if you're simply itching to expand your culinary repertoire), this book is for you. As wholesome and warming as a homecooked meal, Candies from Heaven will appeal to anyone who treasures good food and relationships built on love. Dig in, dear readers, pleasure is served.

This novel holds within its pages an unusual love story that spans three decades and three continents. When Max first meets Esther, she is a young Australian girl filled with passion for life and boundless enthusiasm. His love for her continues through all the changes that take place in her life - her move from London, where they meet, to Jerusalem where she explores the Judaism that until then was just on the fringe of her life; the literary prize she wins that brings her back into his orbit; her commitment to Israel that breaks their relationship; and then finally, a coincidental meeting in the middle of a war in Lebanon. Max never stops loving Esther, even as she matures from a naive girl to a woman of depth and wisdom. Love takes many forms, and readers will experience all the complexities of emotion as they discover the ties that bind a man to a woman.

Two tales of love. "Betrothed" portrays a teacher whose love for the sea leads him to the town of Jaffa. Though many pursue him, Rechnitz eschews romantic love for his studies until he can no longer resist. "Edo and Enam" is set after World War II in Jerusalem and considers how love evolves throughout the course of a marriage.

Born in the United States, Shirley Kaufman has lived for the past 20 years in Jerusalem, a city split by cultural and religious fault lines. In direct, sensitive language, Kaufman's poems occupy the shifting border between ordinary life and violence, Palestinian and Jew, young love and aging companionship. They grapple with the meaning of routine, of family, and of life among a daily existence punctured with bombs. Sometimes I need to be nowhere. A place without history. "Kaufman's poems flourish in the spaces between what is familiar and unfamiliar, between life in Israel and life in the U.S., and in those moments when the differences between Palestinians and Jews, mothers and daughters, history and the immediate moment play themselves out." -- American Book Review "Kaufman is adept at revealing the human face behind politics, carefully accumulating familiar details to make a large portrait." -- Publishers Weekly Shirley Kaufman is the author of seven books of poetry and several translations from the Hebrew. Her awards include the Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America and the Alice Fay di Castagnola Award. A native of Seattle, Kaufman now lives in Jerusalem.