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  • Published: 28 August 2014
  • ISBN: 9780241961346
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 256

The Betrayers




Read it in a sitting and remember it for the rest of your life: a gripping, searing novel from a true master

Two men meet on a park bench in Jerusalem: a politician, making a controversial stand against his government, and a Mossad agent, sent to dissuade him with the threat of blackmail. Neither backs down. Escaping the furore he's unleashed, the politician and his lover head to Crimea and a resort on the Black Sea to lie low. But the fierce battle between political principles and personal loyalties has followed them, and a shocking encounter awaits them. In its depiction of a man whose principles are tested to the utmost extremes, The Betrayers cuts to the heart of our troubled times.

  • Published: 28 August 2014
  • ISBN: 9780241961346
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 256

About the author

David Bezmozgis

Date: 2004-10-21
David Bezmozgis was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1973. In 1980 he emigrated with his parents to Toronto, where he lives today. His critically acclaimed short story collection, Natasha and Other Stories, was published in 2004.

Date: 2004-10-21
David Bezmozgis was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1973. In 1980 he emigrated with his parents to Toronto, where he lives today.

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Praise for The Betrayers

Gripping from the outset, as tightly structured as an intense theatrical experience, this is brilliant writing. Kotler - uncompromising and comprised - is a fascinating, provocative figure

Tom Rob Smith

A work of high moral seriousness dispatched with a gripping elegance . . . Bezmozgis's story of fallen saints and redeemed outcasts is, to put it plainly, the work of a great writer

Joshua Ferris, author of 'To Rise Again at a Decent Hour'

Just when we think we've arrived at the heart of the story's moral complexity, Bezmozgis cuts again and lays bare yet another layer . . . one of the foremost writers of his generation

Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Halftime Walk

A compelling tale of reckoning. Bezmozgis is a smart, taut writer . . . His sentences make interesting turns; his dialogue bites; and he brings alive pre-revolutionary Crimea, with its glum post-Soviet citizens and purple Yalta onions for sale by the roadside

Financial Times

A moral thriller . . . Bezmozgis is a magician

Aleksandar Hemon, author of The Lazarus Project

Taut, fierce, forensically insightful . . . explores the frictions between goodness and kindness, public and private virtue, forgiveness and forgetting. Compulsive and profound

A D Miller, author of Snowdrops

Brilliant, deft depictions of love, of memory, of compassion - and, ultimately, despite its title, of loyalty

Edith Pearlman, author of Binocular Vision

A taut, slim book with a stately tone that makes it feel much larger . . . For [a] lively topical discussion of what it means to live a moral life, The Betrayers is just what the doctor ordered

Prospect

An impressive novel . . . Bezmozgis explores the dynamics of mercy, guilt and repentence

Sunday Times

A vivid novel . . . raising questions of integrity, compromise, identity and forgiveness

Guardian

A brave and ambitious novel . . . The Betrayers suggests that Bezmozgis may potentially be one of the most important writers of his generation

Independent

Compelling. Bezmozgis's deft plotting, atmospheric scene-setting and limpid style remain assured. Each page is a gem

Economist

Ambitious. Bezmozgis is a fine writer

Telegraph

An impressive novel . . . In unadorned prose, Bezmozgis explores the dynamics of mercy, guilt and repentence

Sunday Times