Raymond and Hannah

A week before she's due to leave for Jerusalem, Hannah meets Raymond; 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 created a daring and witty structure: A parallel narrative in marginalia illuminates the short, dramatic encounters of the lovers. In this contemporary love story, carnal love confronts religion and culture, and modern passion finds its counterpoint in ancient texts.--BOOK JACKET.