The book is populated by luftmenschen. Dreamers. Founders and builders of the future state of Israel. These are dreamers of agency and urgency, many wrestling with ethical and philosophical quandaries, even as they construct cities or work machines. Can the new state be founded upon principles of gender and racial equity? Is humanity doomed to forever enact and experience violence? Dowse has managed to encapsulate both ideas and the human struggle.

Clara/Chava is the narrative’s force; a firebrand communist and seeker of justice disillusioned with Zionism. She eschews materialism alongside vulnerability. Amos Oz delineates the Jewish dialectic contained within Zionism thus, ‘Israel is a dream come true and, as such, it is disappointing. The taste of disappointment is not in the nature of Israel, it is in the nature of dreams.’ This is essentially Clara/Chava’s undoing; she cannot endure this truth.

As the Lonely Fly contains some unfortunate mistakes in Hebrew and religious terminology. It remains, however, an ambitious novel in scope, subject matter, and design. Weaving in and out of perspectives and timeframes, the Russian and Palestinian scenes elevate an occasionally faltering story. The American strand tends to dwindle, perhaps because it lacks these luftmenschen that Dowse evokes so well and Clara’s vivifying presence. Nevertheless, this epic imparts Israeli and Russian experiences while capturing their tonal complexities.