A Tale of Two Betrayals

The Betrayers, a new novel by the Canadian Jewish writer David Bezmozgis (Natasha, The Free World), centers on the story of Baruch Kotler, a Soviet dissident turned Israeli politician whose political career has suddenly ground to a halt after the revelation of an affair. Disgraced, he decamps with his mistress to Crimea, where, through a plot twist, the two end up living in a cramped house with the man who had betrayed Kotler to the KGB and thereby consigned him to thirteen years in the Gulag. The Betrayers, writes Boris Fishman, is masterfully crafted, possesses a distinctive and elegant style, and is even fun to read. What’s more, it manages to overcome one of the great challenges of literature with a political theme: