By the Orange Orchard 

About the Book:

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“Can you believe it? Kfar-Saba had turned into Twin Peaks! I always told you this place is infested with murderers.”

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In December 2000 a murder case is unraveled and shatters the lives of the residents of Kfar Saba, a suburb of Tel Aviv; the killers of Lior Oppenheim, whose body was found at the Ussishkin forest in 1996 are uncovered and appear in the media as bright, eloquent teenagers, the beautiful “flowers of the Sharon district.” The sensational news sparks the imaginations of the students of the Film department at Rabin high school, especially of Daphne and David, best friends from earlier lives. Together with Ziv, an intriguing boy they met at the department, they set out to shoot a film following the murder case. What starts as a homework assignment will turn their worlds upside down. Kfar Saba 2000 captures the violence that bubbles underneath the surface in the small city. With news about suicide bombings and good kids turning into murderers in the background, Daphne and David stroll around the city parks, hang out at the mall, read too many books, and constantly fantasize about parallel lives that will take them as far as possible from Kfar Saba.

 

From the Ministry of Culture Award for Young Authors committee:

“With impressive virtuosity, "By the Orange Orchard" balances savageness, pathos, and parody. Fermentto uses efficient language – very close to the surface of the souls of her characters, and yet also flexible and full of contexts and allusions – and with it creates a dense plot the captures her characters’ longing for violence.”