Michael Chabon
Chabon creates an alternate future here where an Israeli state is not created after WWII. Instead, Jews are given a 50 year lease on land in Alaska and that becomes the "homeland" after the war. This book is set with 1-year left on that lease and Jews again beginning to think about what happens next. Of course, the zionists are thinking of settlement in the Holy Land and others are trying to figure out what it would mean to stay in Alaska, or emigrate to somewhere else. In this context, Chabon offers a classic murder mystery/political thriller. Much of the beauty of this book is that the context is unfolded slowly as detective Landsman and his partner detective Berko work to find the source of an unlikely murder. They are navigating cultural barriers between ultra-orthodox Jews, native Alaskans, and secularists. Lot's going on here, and it all holds together as a reality, however alternate it might be. Well done.
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