Ayelet Gundar-Goshen: ‘I learned that the biggest mystery in our lives is the people we love’

Ayelet Gundar-Goshen was born in Israel in 1982. She is a practising clinical psychologist, has been a news editor on Israel’s leading newspaper and has worked for the Israeli civil rights movement. Her first novel — One Night, Markovitch — won the Sapir Prize for best debut. Her novel Waking Lions was a New York Times Book of the Year and won the Wingate Prize, and her novel Liar was Editor’s Choice in People magazine.

Her newly published novel, The Wolf Hunt, centres around a mother who begins to suspect her teenage son of committing a terrible crime.

Lilach seems to have it all: a beautiful home in the heart of Silicon Valley, a community of other Israeli immigrants, a happy marriage and a close relationship with her teenage son, Adam. But when a local synagogue is brutally attacked, her shy, reclusive son is compelled to join a self-defence class taught by a former Israeli Special Forces officer. Then a Black teenager dies at a house party, and rumours begin to circulate that Adam and his new friends might have been involved.

As scrutiny begins to invade Lilach’s peaceful home, and her family’s stability is threatened, will her own fears be the greatest danger of all?

Did you always want to be an author?

Ever since I started reading. The real world simply wasn’t enough.

What inspired you to start writing?

My grandma. When I was in primary school, she caught me telling a terrible lie to the other kids, and told me that I must never tell stories like this – but I was allowed to write them. She then bought me my first notebook.

Where did the idea for this book come from?

I started writing The Wolf Hunt after I took my little girl to her first day at preschool. As I entered the school, I looked suspiciously at all the other children. I later realised, looking at the other mums, that we were all afraid of the same thing – we were all searching for the wolf that might harm our cubs, but none of us was willing to consider the possibility that her own child is in fact that wolf!

Tell us about your writing process.

I always start with a question. In The Wolf Hunt it was – how much do you really know about what your own child is capable of?

What comes first, the plot or the characters?

I first have a vague concept of the plot, and then I dive into the characters. In this novel, I first knew it would be about a mother who suspects that her child was involved in the death of his classmate. It was only later that I began to ask myself about her character – is she someone who made her child the centre of her life? Is she reliable?

What did you learn when writing this book?

I learned that the biggest mystery in our lives is the people we love. People always want to explore the mysteries of space, or the depths of the ocean, but the real mystery is right here, in our own home.

Do you have any quirky / strange habits when writing?

I’m as boring as a washing machine.

The first book you remember reading is…

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Your favourite Irish author is…

Oscar Wilde.

The book you give as a gift to everyone is…

Yehuda Amichai’s poems.

Three books everyone should read:

David Grossman’s See Under: Love, Elena Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter, and Toni Morrison’s Beloved.

You overcome writer’s block by…

Trying to write one page from the perspective of the most neglected character in the book

Do you listen to music when you write?

Yes, when I’m writing in a cafe.

The best money you ever spent as a writer was on…

Travelling. It feeds the imagination.

The three books you’d bring with you to a desert island are…

Lord of the Flies, Zorba the Greek, and 100 Years of Solitude.

A quote you love is…

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

The book you always return to is…

Far From the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy.

Seeing your book in shops is…

Both happy and sad, because this time my mother is not here to see it.

One book you wish you had written is…

Kites by Romain Garry, because of the perfect balance between irony and compassion.

Should books be judged by their covers? How did you pick yours?

Never. I choose books by recommendations from my friends, which I also don’t choose by the cover.

Do you find it hard not to procrastinate when writing?

No.

The best advice you’ve ever received is:

Use your fear as a fuel rather than a barrier, and start writing.

Your work space is…

Wherever. Since I became a mother, I take whatever I can get.

Your favourite literary character of all time is…

Rebecca Sharp from Vanity Fair.

‘The Wolf Hunt’ by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen is published by Pushkin Press.