The Genizah at the House of Shepher: A Reading Guide

1) 'My heart is in the East and I am in the farthest West' (Judah Halevy). How is the east/west dichotomy explored in The Genizah at the House of Shepher and how does it drive the narrative? Do you think the pull of the east versus the lure of the west is a central Jewish experience and is it unique to Jews?

2) The Genizah at the House of Shepher has been described as a thriller, a family saga and an exploration of identity, exile and belonging. How do these elements fit together and complement each other? Do you feel that the novel belongs to any particular genre? Is it important that it does?

3) Tamar Yellin has described the function of the Codex in the novel as "a metaphor." How do you see the Codex working on this metaphorical level? What are the questions raised by the existence of a variant text of the Bible? Do they have answers?

4) The novel covers four generations, each through one main protagonist: Shalom, Joseph, Amnon and Shulamit. Which character did you empathise with most? What family characteristics do they share and how do they differ? Is Shulamit right to feel that spiritual conflicts and personality traits can be handed on through a family in the same way as physical features?

5) Though Shulamit is a woman, she focusses mostly on her male ancestors. Why do you think this is? Do you think Shulamit has more in common with her male forbears than with her female ones?

6) The history of the Jerusalem district of Kiriat Shoshan is paralleled to some extent by that of its neighbouring Arab village, Deir Yassin. What effect does this parallel history have? Do you feel that there is any political bias or message in the novel? What does the novel have to say about Zionism and the Middle East conflict?

7) "Shulamit sees some of her errors as deriving from a tendency to sit on the fence." (Jerusalem Report) In what ways does Shulamit sit on the fence and do her actions towards the end of the novel serve to resolve her dilemmas? Do you regard her as a weak or strong character? Where do you think her story will take her after the close of the narrative?

8) Through exploring her family history Shulamit - a "floating person" - seeks to rediscover her own identity and place in the world. To what extent can she really do this? Are we defined by family and how important is knowing our family history to our sense of who we are? Is knowledge of the past essential to building a future?