The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land, short stories by Omer Friedlander, is the choice for this month’s Church Times Book Club. On the podcast this week, he talks to Susan Gray, who has written this month’s book club essay about the book (read it at https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/books-arts/book-club)

The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land is a collection of 11 short stories. They are all set in modern-day Israel, transporting the reader to the lush orange groves in Jaffa, the arid Negev desert, and the narrow alleyways of Jerusalem. The stories are set against the conflict in the region, but the focus remains on the individual characters with their own tales of love, heartbreak, loss, and strife.

The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land is published by John Murray Press at £14.99 (Church Times Bookshop £13.49); 978-1-399-80394-6.

Omer Friedlander is a young Israeli-born writer who now lives in Brooklyn, in New York City. He was born in Jerusalem in 1994, and grew up in Tel Aviv, before studying English Literature at the University of Cambridge. From there, he continued his studies in the United States, and achieved an MFA from Boston University, supported by the Saul Bellow Fellowship. His writing has achieved global success in Canada, France, Israel, and the US, and his short stories have won many literary awards, including first place in the Baltimore Review Winter Contest, and the Shmuel Traum Literary Translation Prize.

The Church Times Book Club is run in association with the Festival of Faith and Literature. Tickets are now on sale for the next Festival, which takes place in Winchester in February. For more information and to buy tickets, visit https://faithandliterature.hymnsam.co.uk

Sign up to receive the free Book Club email once a month. Featuring discussion questions, podcasts and discounts on each book: churchtimes.co.uk/newsletter-signup

Discuss this month’s book at facebook.com/groups/churchtimesbookclub

Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Picture creidt: © Yab Traiber