The Lawgiver

Finally, at age ninety-seven, Herman Wouk has found an ingeniously witty way to tell the tale of Moses in The Lawgiver. A romantic and suspenseful epistolary novel about a group of people trying to make a movie about Moses in the present day, the story emerges from letters, memos, e-mails, journals, news articles, recorded talk, Skype transcripts, and text messages.At the center of The Lawgiver is Margo Solovei, a brilliant young writer-director who has rejected her rabbinical father's strict Jewish upbringing to pursue a career in the arts. When an Australian multibillionaire promises to finance a movie about Moses if the script meets certain standards, Margo does everything she can to land the job, including a reunion with her estranged first love, an influential lawyer with whom she still has unfinished business. Herman Wouk himself and his wife, Betty Sarah, find themselves entangled in the Moses movie when the Australian billionaire insists on Wouk's stamp of approval.As Wouk and his characters contend with Moses and the force of tradition, as well as marriage, rebellion, and reunion, The Lawgiver reflects the wisdom of a lifetime.