Borrowed Identity is a moving novel that tells the story of three generations of men and women. Through the eyes and the stories of each, a chilling plot unfolds over different periods of time, in Israel and abroad.

But whose story is it? Is it that of the Israeli hero, the secret agent under diplomatic cover whose life is poised at the crossroads between one cloak-and-dagger operation and another, poised for any mission, always ‘in the name of’, always for the cause? Or is it that of the woman, the giver of life, who lives in the shadow of her men: father, husband, son, friends, lovers?

On the memorial day for her son Uri, a fighter pilot who lost his life in one of Israel’s many battles, Marit, remaining alone after the visitors have left, takes stock of her life and the significant others in it: Hanoch, her intelligence officer husband, unable to face the loss of his son, has left her; and Uri, the dead son, who was laid trussed and bound on the sacrificial altar, as Israeli fathers inspired by a sense of mission and heroism sacrifice their sons for the homeland.

Through Marit’s personal acquaintance with death and bereavement, and through the collective encounter, she conveys a dark, heroic Israeli reality of love and death – Eros and Thanatos.

This is a story of love: the passionate love between a man and a woman; the love for a country you die for; the affectionate love of parents for their son, which turns out to be a love that kills him – and them too. It is also a story of death, and of the failure of that desperate love.

Psychologist and university lecturer Hadassa Ashdot was born in Tel Aviv and grew up in Jerusalem. Her short stories have appeared in two leading Israeli literary magazines, Moznayim and Prosa. To date, Ashdot has published two novels (in Hebrew): Borrowed Identity and Marianne of the Snow. The author's experience as an army psychologist dealing with war-caused bereavement and problems associated with the trauma of shell shock are clearly reflected in her works of fiction.