Lawrence Wright is at the height of his powers. His latest work centers around the newfound—and forced—relationship between a Palestinian American FBI agent and a hard-line Israeli cop, who must work together uneasily to solve the murder of the Israeli police chief in Gaza. Moving and thrilling, with extraordinary scope, it does for Palestine and Israel what “Gorky Park” did years ago for Russia. In the vein of John le Carré and Graham Greene, this is a rare novel that manages to entertain, educate, and deeply move the reader.
A Cappella Books proudly welcomes the acclaimed journalist and bestselling author to the Inman Park Church Sanctuary for an evening in celebration of his new novel, "The Human Scale." Known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative work and gripping storytelling, Wright crafts a powerful and timely literary thriller.
Wright will appear in conversation with Benjamin Reiss, the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of English at Emory University and author of "Wild Nights: How Taming Sleep Created Our Restless World."
Tickets include a signed copy of the book.
Please note: Although tickets are non-refundable, if you cannot attend, your ticket still entitles you to a signed copy of the book. A Cappella Books will hold your book for one month from the event date. You may pick it up in-store or call us to request shipping.
Tony Malik is a half-Irish, half-Arab New York–based FBI agent, specializing in money flowing from drug and arms deals. The novel opens in shocking fashion, and Malik’s life changes radically. A long-term relationship ends, and his job is on the verge of being taken away from him. During this period he learns more about his roots and becomes interested in his father’s past and family—his father came to America years ago from Palestine. Malik decides to make a trip to his father’s homeland to attend the wedding of his niece, whom he has never met. As a result of his plans, he is given a simple assignment by his boss at the FBI, partly to see how well he can still do his job. That simple assignment becomes anything but simple.
As soon as he arrives in Gaza, the Israeli police chief overseeing the area is murdered. Malik is at first a suspect. Then, due to his superior investigative skills, he is invited into the Israeli investigation, seeking the murderer. At the core of this novel is Malik’s relationship with Yossi, the hard-line anti-Arab Israeli police officer leading the investigation. They must learn to trust each other because, as they move closer to solving the case, they realize there is no one else they can trust on either side.
Extraordinary three-dimensional characters populate this novel: Yossi’s daughter, studying in Paris, trying to escape the violence that surrounds her in Israel; Malik’s niece, whose wedding and life are shattered by the murder; her fiancé, a peacenik whose existence is complicated by the fact that his cousin is high up in the Hamas command; religious leaders on both sides; corrupt Israeli cops; Palestinians thirsting for violence against Israel; Israelis determined to crush the Palestinians. Lawrence Wright brings a wide and complicated tapestry to life, one that culminates on October 7, 2023, with the deadly Hamas attack on Israel. But he has written more than just a thriller, or even just an examination of all these complicated lives. He has written a novel that manages to explore and explain much of the devastating history that encompasses the relationship between Israel and Palestine—and shows it to us in a way that poignantly reveals the tragic human scale that is involved.
Lawrence Wright is a staff writer for The New Yorker, a playwright, a screenwriter, and the author of ten books of nonfiction, including “The Looming Tower,” “Going Clear,” and “God Save Texas,” and one previous novel, “God’s Favorite.” His books have received many honors, including a Pulitzer Prize for “The Looming Tower.” He and his wife are longtime residents of Austin, Texas.
About the Conversation Partner
Benjamin Reiss is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of English at Emory University. He is the author of “Wild Nights: How Taming Sleep Created Our Restless World” (2017), which examines how societal norms around sleep have shaped modern anxieties and inequalities. His other works include “The Showman and the Slave” and “Theaters of Madness.” Reiss has received fellowships from the Guggenheim and Mellon Foundations, the NEH, and Emory’s Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry, and in 2021, he was awarded Laney Graduate School’s Provost Distinguished Teaching Award.
