Three decades after the Temple Academy for Boys closed its doors, elderly Lloyd Wilkinson Petrie is writing a memoir of his days at the school. As he reflects on the subtle anti-Semitism that pervaded the school and his fascination with his family's heritage, Petrie reconstructs a childhood encounter with Ben-Zion Elefantin, a mystifying pupil who claims descent from Egypt's Elephantine Island. But in this sly, "masterful" novel (Boston Globe) by the author of The Shawl, can Petrie remember his life the way it really happened?

"Whether you're new to her work or a longtime fan, you'll find plenty to entertain as well as to astonish…. A resonant and unsettling tale."—Washington Post