A poignant story of love across a war torn divide. Moved to think about those on the 'other side' after a suicide attack outside her home, seventeen year old Tal sends out a message in a bottle. Soon she is in contact with 'Gazaman' and the two develop a touching and supportive relationship despite all the history and politcs that divide them.
Following a suicide bomb attack on her local Jerusalem cafe, in which she and her friends could so easily have been its victims, a seventeen-year-old Israeli schoolgirl decides to send a message in a bottle to Gaza. An act of hope and desperation, Tal believes that by making contact with a Palestinian she will be able to begin a dialogue through which experiences can be shared, and, just possibly, some kind of mutual understanding achieved. Her message is found by a young man who calls himself Gazaman, and a remarkable email correspondence begins ...This is a mesmerising account of a turbulent relationship conducted between two people whose dialogue is in itself an act of revolution against the situations in which they both feel themselves to be trapped.
Valérie Zenatti was born in Nice on April Fool’s Day 1970. When she was thirteen she went to live with her parents in Israel, where she did her national service, which inspired her novel, When I was a Soldier. Even now she doesn’t go out without her survival kit — these days of a book, a notepad and a pen. Valérie now lives in Paris, where she works as a translator of Hebrew. She is also writing screenplays based on two of her books, Late for War and Message in a Bottle. Valérie is continually surprised and delighted at seeing Lucas, aged eight, and Nina, nearly two, grow up.