When I Lived in Modern Times - Couverture souple

Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction

In the spring of 1946, Evelyn Sert stands on the deck of a ship bound for Palestine. For the twenty-year-old from London, it is a time of adventure and change when all things seem possible.

Swept up in the spirited, chaotic churning of her new, strange country, she joins a kibbutz, then moves on to the teeming metropolis of Tel Aviv, to find her own home and a group of friends as eccentric and disparate as the city itself. She falls in love with a man who is not what he seems when she becomes an unwitting spy for a nation fighting to be born. When I Lived in Modern Times is "an unsentimental coming-of-age story of both a country and a young immigrant . . . that provides an unforgettable glimpse of a time and place rarely observed" ( Publishers Weekly, starred review).

“A stunning accomplishment...A vivid account of an elusive piece of recent history”
-Chicago Sun-Times

“Informed, intelligent...vital, original. ”
-The New York Times

“Deeply moving...at once a beautifully rendered story of one woman’s coming of age, and a gripping portrait of the last days of British rule. ”
-Boston Globe

“Ms. Grant’s fast-paced novel succeeds on many levels. It recreates the historical era accurately with sophisicated prose and lively jests about the human condition.”
-Dallas Morning News

“Appealing...[When I Lived in Modern Times] offers an unsentimental view of a young woman’s coming-of-age in a paradoxically ancient and newborn land. [A] compelling tale of a Middle Eastern adventure.”
-US Weekly