'Parallel Lines': New novel gives young adults a new look at Jerusalem

Ruth Marks Eglash knows that young adult readers love stories about vampires, mutant superheroes and aliens in love. 

And yet Tamar, Nour and Rivki aren’t any of the above. They are teenage girls representing three Jerusalem populations in Eglash’s debut novel, Parallel Lines, released June 15 by Black Rose Writing. Tamar is a secular Jew, Nour a Muslim, and Rivki an ultra-Orthodox Jew.

Eglash believes young adults, and even older adults, will find in these three thoroughly human characters a new, nuanced understanding of an old, complicated conflict.

Coming from the world of journalism, this award-winning writer decided that a novel would be an effective medium for giving readers a compelling glimpse of real-life Jerusalem.

How Ruth Marks Eglash went from journalism to writing fiction

Raised in London with an Israeli father and a British mother, she interned at BBC Radio during university, which opened doors for her when she made aliyah in 1994. In 1997, she began working at The Jerusalem Post as a graphic designer and worked her way up to social welfare reporter and deputy managing editor over the next 13 years, during which time she gave birth to three children.

In 2013, Eglash began a nearly eight-year stint with The Washington Post’s Jerusalem bureau. She reported on all manner of clashes and terror attacks.

“I was privileged to have a dual identity. As someone who speaks fluent Hebrew, I had full access to the Israeli side. Although I don’t speak Arabic, I had access to the Palestinian side as a foreign journalist with a British accent,” she said.

“There were days where I would be attacked from both sides for the way I covered events. And I experienced firsthand how polarizing the conflict is. I saw that both sides have their story, and both sides should have their stories told. That is how I approached my work at the Washington Post.”

She started working on Parallel Lines in 2017. “I felt I had enough experience to go and do what I always wanted to do: write a book. I was becoming fascinated with telling the story of Israel and the conflicts here so that both sides will realize it’s not good for anyone – no one is winning.”

Against the advice of many people who argued that “no one is interested in reading a novel about the conflict, I felt this has to be told in a fictional way, pulling in all the experiences I’ve had in the field and some of the stories that didn’t make it into professional news articles,” she said.

The information-gathering and writing process took about three years. 

“I met with young people on all sides. The secular character, Tamar, is based very much on my middle daughter, Gefen, who is now in the army. When she was in the Nisui School on Hillel Street in the center of Jerusalem, the stabbing intifada broke out and she would ask me, ‘Why were they stopping the train?’ ‘What’s a pigua [terror attack]?’ ‘Why are people trying to hurt us?’ 

“I found myself going from being the Washington Post correspondent who explains what’s going on here to the world, to having to explain it to my own 12-year-old. It was really heartbreaking. Israeli kids don’t understand what’s going on here. It’s an adult conflict, and they’re caught up in it without understanding it. And I don’t think that gets enough coverage because it’s not as interesting to the media.”

To develop the character of Nour, she said, “I met with some amazing young Palestinian women from east Jerusalem who told me heartbreaking stories about what it’s like to be an Arab living in Jerusalem.”

Rivki is based on her discussions facilitated by a female haredi journalist who invited Eglash to talk with her four daughters and their friends. “I was interested in hearing about their experiences and how they see the conflict, especially when they are caught up in their own conflict between the secular and religious communities of Jerusalem,” Eglash said.

“A lot of the stories in the book are based on true things people told me. Jerusalem is often called the ‘eternal united capital,’ but it’s so divided. The neighborhoods of French Hill [where Tamar lives], Shuafat [where Nour lives] and Ma’alot Dafna [where Rivki lives] are within a square mile of each other and there is no interaction between them,” she said.

“I used my journalistic skills and journalistic privilege to get into these communities. And I had young people read the manuscript to see if everything was culturally and linguistically accurate.”

A pivotal point in Parallel Lines occurs on the light rail, which serves all three neighborhoods and is a rare point of contact – unwitting and uncommunicative as that contact may be – among Jerusalem’s diverse residents.

The novel touches on racism and identity, sexual assault and personal development, the impact of war and violence on young people and how individuals can overcome social conditioning and long-held beliefs.

Eglash said she intends her book to convey three main points.

“First, there’s an adult conflict going on that seems to have no solution, and no one is thinking about how it impacts the children. And the longer it goes unsolved, the more entrenched it becomes in the minds and consciousness of the next generation.

“Second, this conflict is so polarized. There are two narratives and there’s no way to convince the other side of anything. The story needs to be told in a different way so that people can see that there is another side – whether you agree with it or not – and only once you recognize the other side will you be able to think about finding a solution.

“Third, there are always exceptions to the rule. There are always people who go against the grain, who question what their group is doing. The characters in the book all go through this process. It’s not wishful thinking; it’s based on people I met.”

Eglash, currently working as a senior correspondent for Jewish Insider, an American-Jewish media outlet, said she struggled to find an agent and publisher willing to take on Parallel Lines, but she felt it had to be written. 

“It was very therapeutic in a way. Covering the conflict for the Washington Post probably traumatized me because I am a citizen here, a resident of Jerusalem, and I wasn’t dealing with the feelings I had inside,” she said.

Eglash will do a launch event on July 9 at the Tower of David Museum. Later, she hopes to set up speaking tours in the UK and the US.

“I’m also working on a second novel,” she revealed. “It will not deal with the conflict at all but probably it will have an Israel element.” 

Parallel Lines is available online from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Black Rose Writing. It will also be sold in Israeli bookstores.