Books > The Best Place on Earth
Reminiscent of the early work of Jhumpa Lahiri, Ayelet Tsabari’s award-winning debut collection of stories is global in scope yet intimate in feel, beautifully written, and emotionally powerful. From Israel to India to Canada, Tsabari’s indelible characters grapple with love, violence, faith, the slipperiness of identity, and the challenges of balancing old traditions with modern times.
These eleven spellbinding stories often focus on Israel’s Mizrahi Jews, featuring mothers and children, soldiers and bohemians, lovers and best friends, all searching for their place in the world. In “Tikkun,” a man crosses paths with his free-spirited ex-girlfriend—now a married Orthodox Jew—and minutes later barely escapes tragedy. In “Brit Milah,” a mother travels from Israel to visit her daughter in Canada and is stunned by her grandson’s upbringing. A young medic in the Israeli army bends the rules to potentially dangerous consequence in “Casualties.” After her mom passes away, a teenage girl comes to live with her aunt outside Tel Aviv and has her first experience with unrequited love in “Say It Again, Say Something Else.” And in the moving title story, two estranged sisters—one whose marriage is ending, the other whose relationship is just beginning—try to recapture the close bond they had as kids.
Absorbing, tender, and sharply observed, The Best Place on Earth infuses moments of sorrow with small moments of grace: a boy composes poetry in a bomb shelter, an old photo helps a girl make sense of her mother’s rootless past. Tsabari’s voice is gentle yet wise, illuminating the burdens of history, the strength of the heart, and our universal desire to belong.
Shelly Oria, author of New York 1, Tel Aviv 0
Phil Klay, National Book Award–winning author of Redeployment
Sami Rohr Prize Judges’ Comments
Nancy Richler, author of The Imposter Bride
Catherine Bush, author of Claire’s Head and The Rules of Engagement
Gurjinder Basran, author of Everything Was Good-bye
Betsy Warland, author of Breathing the Page– Reading the Act of Writing
Wayde Compton, author of After Canaan
Directed, shot and edited: Elsin Davidi | Narration: Gil Dattner | Sound: Omer Most | Music: Eldad Tsabary
“Stunning… Tsabari creates complex, conflicted, prickly people you’ll want to get to know better.”
“Powerful . . . brilliant . . . These stories . . . depict minorities so skillfully, with such a light and accurate touch.”
“Highly recommended . . . Compelling and compassionate; [Tsabari’s stories] speak out from the heart of Israeli society and experiences. . . . The stories of The Best Place on Earth leave you wishing they wouldn’t end.”
“This short story collection is a fiction debut for Tsabari, but it demonstrates that she is already a talented storyteller. . . . Her writing has an immediacy and power that invites readers into her characters’ psyches.”
“Warm, intimate, and humane.”
“With these stories, Tsabari has helped create a new type of Jewish immigrant storytelling.”
“The best place on Earth is wherever you are reading Ayelet Tsabari’s debut short story collection. Filled with vivid characters and compelling storytelling.”
“Impressive… Brutally honest… Smart, sad and sincere…The characters imagined by Tsabari are achingly human and almost flawlessly fashioned.”
“Penetrating… The author (possesses) superior skill at excavating the internal and external conflicts encountered by her characters.”
“Remarkable… A potent examination of the quotidian devastation wreaked by continuous bombings in the city… Tsabari writes with a clear yet compassionate eye about characters attempting to wrest meaningful lives out of an environment that strongly opposes them.”
“Tsabari’s characters represent the complexities that really define Israel, the differing people jostling one another in this tiny plot of land on the Mediterranean. Their tales are fascinating.”
“A notable debut…. Issues of assimilation and belonging… are approached here in specific ways that both trouble the underlying cultural conversations and tell moving stories.”
“I didn’t want to put down The Best Place on Earth. Ayelet Tsabari’s first book is a smart, sexy, and absorbing collection of short stories.”
“Poignant, slice-of-life, humane tales. Tsabari’s descriptions are colourful and vibrant. A great start from a promising writer.”
“Tsabari’s stories ask about the toll of living in contemporary Israel, in both understandings of the word: the price we pay to get where we must go, and the damage and loss accrued by disaster. Depending on your politics you could read it either way. Tsabari’s strength is allowing both interpretations of her work.”
Drop me a line if you’d like to invite me to your book club or to a school visit, request an interview or invite me for a speaking engagement, a reading, or a writing workshop. You can also contact me if you are interested in mentorship or manuscript consultations.
For marketing, publicity information and for review copies