Measuring Up — Jack Wassermann

This novel is aimed at secular Jews and others interested in Palestine before Israel was created, and a few years after. The sex games of two children evolve into a lifelong bond between David, a superb instrumentalist and composer, but a man damaged by a childhood trauma, and Shoshana, a gifted and an extremely successful silversmith. Again and again they find each other, only to be forced apart by breakdown and fear. When, towards the end of his life, David seems to disappear off the edge of the earth, Shoshana sets out to find him. The artistry of David, a remarkable leader and teacher of chamber music, along with Shoshana's almost supernatural divining of her clients' needs in a pendant, an earring or a necklace are carefully explored, all add to the impact of a haunting love story.