Wherever You Go

Leegant's debut novel, after her story collection, An Hour in Paradise, follows three Americans who long for definitive answers from their Jewish faith. Yona Stern returns to Jerusalem in an attempt to reconcile with her sister, Dena, from whom she's been estranged for 10 years after sleeping with Dena's husband. Dena has since married a man committed to the uncompromising Jewish settlements. Mark Greenglass, a scholar who has replaced his drug addiction with a religious addiction, leaves Jerusalem to return to New York for a teaching gig and to reconnect with his parents and the woman he loved but couldn't save from a dissipated life. And Aaron Blinder, a college dropout resentful of his father's success writing bestselling novels about the Holocaust, searches for a group to join in Israel to give his life meaning. While each individual tale has its urgency and pathos, the story becomes gripping only in the latter part of the book when the three paths collide in a frightening incident caused by an impetuous, irresponsible act by Aaron. Unfortunately, that is the shortest section, making the whole feel unbalanced, but Leegant's strong, sensory writing compensates. (July)