Husband and wife / Zeruya Shalev ; translated from the Hebrew by Dalya Bilu

"Husband and Wife is a novel that takes us into the heartbreak and compromise of a diseased marriage that may or may not be capable of healing. With the emotional intensity and searing lyricism that have earned her overwhelming international acclaim, Zeruya Shalev explores the true nature of love, lust, and family, and dares to ask the question upon which everything comes to rest: When all is threatened, should one hold on even tighter, or let go?" "Na'ama and Udi Newman have many of the trappings of an idyllic shared existence. A couple since they were schoolchildren, they have grown together like vines and settled into a routine of calm domesticity, along with their young daughter, Noga. But in a scene worthy of Kafka, the quiet rhythms of their family life suddenly screech to a halt when Udi wakes up one morning to find that he is unable to move his legs. The doctors quickly set about searching for a physical explanation, and Na'ama herself goes to desperate lengths to jump-start his ailing body. But it soon becomes painfully clear that his paralysis is a symptom of something far less tangible and far more insidious than any of them had imagined." "This one morning sets in motion a series of events that reveals a vicious cycle of jealousy, paranoia, resentment, and accumulated injuries that now threaten to tear the small family apart. Na'ama, always intent on upholding the structure of her marriage despite its possibly rotting foundation, is now forced to confront all that festers beneath the surface."--BOOK JACKET.