The Betrayers, Bezmozgis - B

                                              This is a short novel of consequence, one that received many, many awards for 2014. The central character is Baruch Kotler, an Israeli who as a young man  spent 13 years in the Soviet Gulag, after a fellow Jew betrayed him to the KGB. Now he is a world famous member of the Israeli cabinet, and one whose position on building in the West Bank led to his enemies exposing his affair with a much younger woman. Seeking a respite, he and the young Leora flee and eventually decide to spend a week in Yalta, a city where Baruch's father had taken him as a boy. Fate, though, brings him face to face with  Chaim Tankilevich, his betrayer from the early 70's. While debating guilt, innocence and many complex Russian-Jewish matters, Baruch learns that his son has disobeyed orders in the West Bank and has taken a violent, symbolic stance against the Army and the State. The author is a Canadian Jew, born in Latvia and an important young voice among the many Jewish refugees from the USSR.