The Judges: A Novel

From Elie Wiesel, a gripping novel of guilt, innocence, and the perilousness of judging both.

A plane en route from New York to Tel Aviv is forced down by bad weather. A nearby house provides refuge for five of its passengers: Claudia, who has left her husband and found new love; Razziel, a religious teacher who was once a political prisoner; Yoav, a terminally ill Israeli commando; George, an archivist who is hiding a Holocaust secret that could bring down a certain politician; and Bruce, a would-be priest turned philanderer.

Their host—an enigmatic and disquieting man who calls himself simply the Judge—begins to interrogate them, forcing them to face the truth and meaning of their lives. Soon he announces that one of them—the least worthy—will die.

The Judges is a powerful novel that reflects the philosophical, religious, and moral questions that are at the heart of Elie Wiesel’s work.

From the Hardcover edition.

When their plane en route from New York to Tel Aviv is forced down by bad weather, five passengers seek refuge at a nearby house where they encounter their enigmatic host, known only as the Judge, who begins to interrogate them, forcing them to confront the reality and meaning of their lives before it is too late. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.

Elie Wiesel is the author of more than forty books, including his unforgettable international best-sellers Night and

A Beggar in Jerusalem, winner of the Prix M

A plane headed from New York to Tel Aviv is forced to crash land at a small airport, and five survivors are given shelter in a nearby home. Once they are locked in, their enigmatic host tells them he is their judge, and they must reveal their lives to him. Shockingly, he announces the least worthy of them will be sentenced to death. Who should live, and who should die? Which crash survivor has the weakest claim on life?