Family secrets and scandal collide in Noa Yedlin's 'House Arrest' - review

Published in 2013 in Hebrew under the title Ba'alat Habayit, this novel was released in English on October 13. I suggest you get yourself a copy.Even in translation, Noa Yedlin's writing grabs you from the first sentence and never lets go.The plot revolves around an investigation of Elisheva Fogel, a respected resident of Rehavia who stands accused of accepting bribes, laundering money, and falsifying documents in her capacity as vice-chair of the Hirsch Center for Peace.'A profound reverence for Jerusalem'Elisheva and her husband, Ben-Ami, “shared a profound reverence for Jerusalem: its architecture, its art, its texture, its weather – a purely aesthetic admiration, without a trace of nationalism, of course, since both of them were, in principle, strong proponents of peace... They loved Jerusalem with all their soul – as much as one could love it and still be a leftist.”Elisheva's alleged wrongdoing is the engine that drives the real story of how this shocking turn of events, and the resulting media frenzy, affect the grown Fogel children: Daphna, Barak, and Eitan.This story is told from the third-person perspective of classically middle child Barak, who at 40 still struggles to find his place in his accomplished family, in academia, and in his relationship with his estranged wife and young daughter.Barak needs to believe his “virtuous, wrongfully persecuted”