When I Lived in Modern Times

Winner of the 2000 Orange Prize for Fiction

In the spring of 1946, Evelyn Sert stands on the deck of a ship bound for Palestine. For the twenty-year-old from London, it is a time of adventure and change when all things seem possible.

Swept up in the spirited, chaotic churning of her new, strange country, she joins a kibbutz, then moves on to the teeming metropolis of Tel Aviv, to find her own home and a group of friends as eccentric and disparate as the city itself. She falls in love with a man who is not what he seems when she becomes an unwitting spy for a nation fighting to be born. When I Lived in Modern Times is "an unsentimental coming-of-age story of both a country and a young immigrant . . . that provides an unforgettable glimpse of a time and place rarely observed" (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

"Informed, intelligent . . . vital, original." (The New York Times)

"Deeply moving . . . at once a beautifully rendered story of one woman's coming of age, and a gripping portrait of the last days of British rule." (The Boston Globe)

“A stunning accomplishment…A vivid account of an elusive piece of recent history”

-Chicago Sun-Times

“Informed, intelligent…vital, original. ”

-The New York Times

“Deeply moving…at once a beautifully rendered story of one woman’s coming of age, and a gripping portrait of the last days of British rule. ”

-Boston Globe

“Ms. Grant’s fast-paced novel succeeds on many levels. It recreates the historical era accurately with sophisicated prose and lively jests about the human condition.”

-Dallas Morning News

“Appealing…[When I Lived in Modern Times] offers an unsentimental view of a young woman’s coming-of-age in a paradoxically ancient and newborn land. [A] compelling tale of a Middle Eastern adventure.”

-US Weekly

Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction

In the spring of 1946, Evelyn Sert stands on the deck of a ship bound for Palestine. For the twenty-year-old from London, it is a time of adventure and change when all things seem possible.

Swept up in the spirited, chaotic churning of her new, strange country, she joins a kibbutz, then moves on to the teeming metropolis of Tel Aviv, to find her own home and a group of friends as eccentric and disparate as the city itself. She falls in love with a man who is not what he seems when she becomes an unwitting spy for a nation fighting to be born. When I Lived in Modern Times is "an unsentimental coming-of-age story of both a country and a young immigrant . . . that provides an unforgettable glimpse of a time and place rarely observed" (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

Linda Grant is one of England's leading journalists and writers. The author of three previous books, including The Cast Iron Shore (winner of the David Higham Prize for best first novel of 1995) and Remind Me Who I Am, Again, her acclaimed account of her mother's dementia. When I Lived in Modern Times won the Orange Prize - established in 1996 to honor novels of excellence, originality and accessibility by women writers - in June 2000, and will be her first work of fiction published in the United States.

Read an exclusive essay by Linda Grant