The parting gift

"The Parting Gift is an epistolary novel, one long letter written by a nameless narrator to his host of the last four months, a recounting of the events that caused him to show up in this unnamed American city with an erotic story of obsession, jealousy and revenge that took place at the other side of the world, in a seaside farming community in Israel, with disastrous results"-- An erotic tale of jealousy, obsession, and revenge on Israel's Mediterranean coast. An unnamed narrator writes a letter to an old college friend, Adam, with whom he has been staying since his abrupt return to the States from Israel. Now that the narrator is moving on to a new location, he reveals the events that led him to Adam's door, set in motion by a chance encounter with Uzi, a spice merchant whose wares had developed a cult following. As the writer, overwhelmed by an animal attraction that derails his life, becomes increasingly entangled in Uzi's life-- and the lives of Uzi's ex-wife and children-- his passion turns sinister, ultimately threatening all around him.-- adapted from jacket