Raymond and Hannah

In this remarkable debut novel, carnal love confronts religion and culture, and modern passion finds its counterpoint in ancient texts. A sexy, surprising, contemporary story that reflects the multiculturalism of love today. A week before she's due to leave for Jerusalem, Hannah meets Raymond at a party. A one-night stand surprisingly expands into a week-long, passionate love affair. While Hannah leaves for nine months to study Torah at an orthodox yeshiva, Raymond stays behind, researching his doctorate on love in Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy, struggling with loneliness and Hannah's increasing religious fervor. Can this new love affair survive six thousand miles, cultural dissonance, and out-of-sync, late-night emails? Stephen Marche has published short fiction in various literary journals and was short-listed for the 2002 O. Henry Prize. Raymond and Hannah is his first novel. An internationally ranked chess player and a former member of Canada's national fencing team, Marche lives in Toronto.