A WOMAN IN JERUSALEM by A.B. Yehoshua, translated from the Hebrew by Hillel Halkin. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2006, 237 pp., $25 (cloth).
In "The Dragon Scroll," his previous literary adventure, Heian Period (794-1185) official Sugawara Akitada cracked a Buddhist-led conspiracy in remote Kazusa Province (part of present-day Chiba Prefecture). He subsequently returned to Kyoto, but proved too naive for the capital's intrigues and squabbles.
So his competence is once again "rewarded" with another hardship posting, this time as provisional governor to Echigo Province (part of present-day Niigata Prefecture).