A powerful novel that explores the conflicts of the human soul, where the desire for understanding is at war with the need to run from trouble, and courage does not always win. Roaming India in 1939 and the early 1940s, two flawed but extraordinary men latch onto each other with shocking consequences as each follows an ill-fated quest for “enlightenment.” Moses, a Polish Jew, is fleeing both the Nazis and his own failed marriage; Sahadeva, an itinerant Hindu monk, is trying to resolve his crisis of religious belief. To answer these questions they look first to each other, but must finally face their own shortcomings and fears and stare into the face of “Adam Kadmon,” the name the Kabbalah gives to the original soul from which all men are descended. Will they ever be able to honestly see the damage they have caused and seek forgiveness—or will they continue running from themselves?

A powerful novel that explores the conflicts of the human soul, where the desire for understanding is at war with the need to run from trouble, and courage does not always win. Roaming India in 1939 and the early 1940s, two flawed but extraordinary men latch onto each other with shocking consequences as each follows an ill-fated quest for “enlightenment.” Moses, a Polish Jew, is fleeing both the Nazis and his own failed marriage; Sahadeva, an itinerant Hindu monk, is trying to resolve his crisis of religious belief. To answer these questions they look first to each other, but must finally face their own shortcomings and fears and stare into the face of “Adam Kadmon,” the name the Kabbalah gives to the original soul from which all men are descended. Will they ever be able to honestly see the damage they have caused and seek forgiveness—or will they continue running from themselves?

A powerful novel that explores the conflicts of the human soul, where the desire for understanding is at war with the need to run from trouble, and courage does not always win. Roaming India in 1939 and the early 1940s, two flawed but extraordinary men latch onto each other with shocking consequences as each follows an ill-fated quest for “enlightenment.” Moses, a Polish Jew, is fleeing both the Nazis and his own failed marriage; Sahadeva, an itinerant Hindu monk, is trying to resolve his crisis of religious belief. To answer these questions they look first to each other, but must finally face their own shortcomings and fears and stare into the face of “Adam Kadmon,” the name the Kabbalah gives to the original soul from which all men are descended. Will they ever be able to honestly see the damage they have caused and seek forgiveness—or will they continue running from themselves?