What disappointment! I am given to understand this a translation from the german, being able to read in the language I would perhaps have been better reading that! The story had so much promise and visits the period after the war which is so often neglected.
The blurb had me interested but in reading the book seemed very flat, I couldn't tell if it was poor translation or the author failed to develop living, breathing characters for a plot that held so much potential! A real shame!

An uneven book as a nuanced political background of Germany in 1946 and the struggle for a Jewish homeland is somewhat cheapened by the overlay of a thriller-ish plot ('I'm impressed, Miss Wasserfall. It seems as if you're about to solve one of the British secret service's cold cases').

Abarbanell is excellent on the divisive politics of Israel amongst Palestinian Jews ('their goal was not a state for the Jews, but a Jewish state, country, soil and people: a single entity') and does a superb job of depicting the chaos of post-war Europe with its millions of displaced, traumatised and emotionally-fractured people. Lev's nervous habit of wiping his hands against his trouser legs says more than paragraphs of words, and the depiction of the displaced people's camp with its bureacracies and its army of workers trying desperately to achieve some kind of future for refugees and the homeless is done with a light touch that is deeply telling.

All this good stuff fades into the background, though, as the thriller element takes over: an unfeasibly young and inexperienced Palestinian Jewish girl called Lilya comes into the story in search of a missing German Jewish scientist while being pursued by a mysterious stalker and tangling herself in British Secret Service affairs. Her quest involves everyone she meets adoring her on sight and complete strangers telling her their intimate and private secrets at the drop of a hat. The saccharine ending which ties up her mission with her own love-life and future is overly neat and, frankly, closer to chick-lit.

It's a shame, because Abarbanell's politicised and emotionally-nuanced vision of displacement is so strong that it just doesn't need all the frothy stuff: and while his setting is 1946, the concerns with an endemic refugee crisis, with homelessness and questions of sanctuary speak just as pertinently to today.

The uneven mis-matched storyline means this is a 3.5 star book for me, rounded up to 4 because the good stuff is so very good.

From reading the description of this book, it really appealed to me. However, having finished reading it, I am a little disappointed, although I am unsure whether the problems lay with the writing, or the translation.

This book begins in 1946, shortly after the end of the Second World War. Elias Lind is an author, who lives in Jerusalem. He left his scientist brother, Raphael, in Berlin and, although he has been told that his brother is dead, he has information which suggests that his brother is still alive. A young woman named Lilya is asked to search for Raphael, when she is sent on a mission to Europe. Lilya is a member of the Jewish resistance and has been left bereft by the death of the young man that her parents took in as a child and whom she was in love with.

Although we are given Lilya’s back story, this is all related in a dry and very factual manner and it is hard to symathise with her, or indeed with any, of the characters in this novel. This book takes Lilya from Palestine to London and to Germany. Along the way, we hear the story of Elias and Raphael Lind and their life in Germany, as well as hearing how Lilya, as a young Jewish woman, reacts to the shocking news of the holocaust which is beginning to be heard by a disbelieving world.

The plot of this book works well enough, but the characters remain two dimensional and the writing is un-engaging. Again, though, I am unsure whether it is the fault of the author’s pen, or just a flat reinterpretation of the text in translation. Either way, I have to admit that I was not really invested in the characters. That was a shame, as the setting was an interesting one, but I really never felt that the story reached its full potential.

Wow! I loved everything about this book. A fascinating insight into the state of Germany, and Europe, at the end of WW2. Left me wanting to read further and find out more about life during this period. I particularly love the title' Displaced', as it so perfectly describes the situation of people and property at this time.
The story commences, in 1946, with Lilya a jewish girl living in Palestine. Lilya is part of a political pressure group working to create the Jewish state of Israel. She is asked to carry out a mission in Germany and find someone reported as killed in 1942. Raphael Lind, the man she is looking for was a highly regarded professor of chemistry who was reported as dead by the British. His brother, however, has since received information to suggest he may still be alive. Lilya's search takes her into the heart of the turmoil of Germany at the end of the war. The author's description of Germany is compelling and vivid. The country is a bombed out mess, with people struggling to cope. Ex concentration camp victims are still living in camps, struggling to start living a life again and to work out who they were and how their life is going to continue now. They want to get out of Germany, with many hoping to go to America or Palestine. They are being supported by the allies but life is pretty desperate. Homes have been lost, through bombing and through occupation, and treasured items stolen by the Nazis and stockpiled in huge warehouses. People and possessions, all 'displaced'. Meanwhile more survivors are streaming in from the East, over running the camps and stretching the services to the limit.
Lilya's investigation takes her across Germany, from the camps to the warehouses, and into the company of Nazis and their victims. As the plot thickens, Lilya is walking a dangerous path. Who can she trust?
The story contains a number of strands, following the lives of different characters, which adds to the depth and intrigue of the story overall. There is plenty to keep you reading, and I couldn't put this book down. Highly, highly recommended.