The Adam Lapid books take place primarily in the city of Tel Aviv in the late 1940s and '50s.
But what was life in Tel Aviv like in those days? You get a sense of that when reading the books, but in this email, I'd like to give you a bit more information about that.
Tel Aviv was Israel's most populous city at the time, and the cultural and financial center of the country (Jerusalem, then just the western part of it, was the political center). This is true today as well, but the city was much less developed.
But what was life in Tel Aviv like in those days? You get a sense of that when reading the books, but in this email, I'd like to give you a bit more information about that.
Tel Aviv was Israel's most populous city at the time, and the cultural and financial center of the country (Jerusalem, then just the western part of it, was the political center). This is true today as well, but the city was much less developed.
While Tel Aviv today is studded with skyscrapers, back then it did not haveĀ one. The vast majority of buildings in the city were four stories or less. And there were more houses back then. Most have given way to apartment buildings since.
The population was made up of Jews from many backgrounds and countries. Many were not native Hebrew speakers. So you could walk the streets of Tel Aviv and hear a medley of languages: Yiddish, German, Arabic, and many others. Today, everyone speaks Hebrew. And if you do hear another language, the people speaking it are likely tourists.
Tel Aviv today is bustling with traffic and has a severe shortage of parking space. Back in Adam Lapid's time, most people did not own cars. Travel in the city was done by bus, bicycle, taxi, or by walking.
There were also very few telephones. When Israel became independent in 1948, around 10% of households had telephones. This percentage dropped further when hundreds of thousands of impoverished immigrants flooded into the country over the next four years.
So Adam Lapid can't simply call someone. They will usually not have a number. And when he does wish to place a phone call, he needs to go to a drugstore, a cafe, or use a public telephone. This makes it harder to interview people in his investigations.
Back in the 1950s, there was rationing throughout Israel. Basic items like eggs, butter, sugar, and kerosene were rationed. You could see lines of people waiting for get their hands on these items before they run out.
Here's a photo by Hans Pinn (Government Press Office) of a line of people waiting to get kerosene taken in 1952 in Tel Aviv.
Rationing led to a thriving black market, which plays a part in severalĀ Adam Lapid books. Regular people would trade contraband out of their apartments. Mothers would pay good money for a bit more food for their children. The authorities tried to stop it, with little success.
Above all, Tel Aviv was a sunny beach city, bustling with life and culture and ingenuity. It remains so today.