From a bestselling Australian author comes a gripping novel of espionage, passion and sacrifice set in the Middle East during World War I. Based on an astonishing true story, it asks what are you willing to die for?
During a train journey across Turkey’s Anatolian Plain in 1915 during World War I, Shoshana Adelstein witnesses the slaughter of the Armenians and knows she has just come face to face with her destiny.
Convinced that her Jewish community in a small outpost of the Ottoman Empire will soon meet a similar fate, she is desperate to save her people. With Turkey and Britain locked in a global conflict, she orchestrates an audacious plan. Enlisting a group of co-conspirators who include her charismatic lover Eli and her impetuous brother Nathan, this young woman forms a clandestine spy ring. Conquering almost insurmountable obstacles, they risk betrayal, torture and death to spy on the Turks and pass on intelligence to the British to help them win the war.
This epic novel explores the fate of ordinary people whose mission collides with the secret agenda of powerful countries, people ready to risk everything to rescue their communities. But can individuals affect the fate of nations? And when life is at stake, how far will we go to reach the limits of our dreams?
Diane Armstrong was an award-winning journalist and travel writer before turning to fiction twenty years ago. Her debut, Winter Journey, was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Since then, she’s written several bestselling novels, such as The Collaborator and Dancing with the Enemy. Her latest, The Wild Date Palm, cements her reputation as one of Australia’s finest historical authors.
The novel is inspired by the astonishing true story of siblings Sarah and Aaron Aaronsohn, from Zichron Yaakov, who became part of a secret spy ring to defeat the Turks in World War I. While researching their lives, Armstrong wondered ‘whether there was room for a novel. I decided there was. Non-fiction presents objective facts, but by fictionalising their story I hope to provide an emotional and imaginative dimension to their experiences which would breathe life into the historical facts.’
She certainly has breathed life into this incredible tale. In The Wild Date Palm, siblings Shoshana and Nathan are incredibly close, leaving their younger sister Leah to become an observer and, ultimately, keeper of the family’s stories. Parts of the novel take place in Cairo, Constantinople and London, however, the majority is set in the small town of Zichron Yaakov, an Ottoman backwater in those days.
Meticulously researched, and superbly written, this novel has it all – the thrilling World War I spy storyline, brave, idealistic central characters who are placed in an unfathomable situation, and a passionate love story and love triangle. Most importantly, the fearless Shoshana sits at centre of it. The fact that she’s closely based on Sarah Aaronsohn makes her even more compelling, fascinating and, ultimately, tragic.
Armstrong’s author notes are an engrossing postscript, particularly the fate of the brother Aaron Aaronsohn, called Nathan in the novel. You can’t help but wonder if his death changed the course of history. But Armstrong admits that ‘politics were far from my mind when I felt compelled to write this novel.’ Her focus was Shoshana’s story, and she’s brought her to captivating, glorious life. The Wild Date Palm is a brilliant historical, and an unmissable read.
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