Will iconic images recorded in the grooves of an ancient vase unite the Holy Land or rip it further apart?

THE VASE

A novel by Mark M. DeRobertis

Muhsin Muhabi is a Palestinian potter, descended from a long line of potters. His business is run from the same shop owned by his ancestors since the day his forebears moved to Nazareth. The region's conflict saw the death of his oldest son, and rogue terrorists are in the process of recruiting his youngest in their plot to assassinate the Pope and Israeli prime minister.

Professor Hiram Weiss is an art historian at Nazareth’s Bethel University. He is also a Shin Bet operative on special assignment. With the help of fellow agent, Captain Benny Mathias, he plans to destroy the gang responsible for the death of his wife and only child. He puts a bomb in the ancient vase he takes on loan from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.

Mary Levin, the charming assistant to the director of Shin Bet, has lost a husband and most of her extended family to recurring wars and never-ending terrorism. She dedicates her life to the preservation of Israel, but to whom will she dedicate her heart? The brilliant professor from Bethel University? Or the gallant captain who now leads Kidon?

Harvey Holmes, the Sherlock of Haunted Houses, is a Hollywood TV host whose reality show just flopped. When a Lebanese restaurant owner requests his ghost-hunting services, he believes the opportunity will resurrect his career. All he has to do is exorcise the ghosts that are haunting the restaurant. It happens to be located right across the street from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.




Monday, February 14, 2011

Main Characters in THE VASE

Unlike KILLER OF KILLERS, my first novel, (yet to be published) which has only one main character, Trent Smith, the greatest martial artist in the world, THE VASE revolves around several main characters.

Today, I’ll talk about Muhsin Muhabi and his son, Naji, because the story begins with them. Muhsin is a hard-working Palestinian who makes a meager living as a potter in the old city market of modern day Nazareth. He’s a Muslim, as Muslims are the majority in Nazareth, but Muhsin doesn’t go to the mosques or bow down at the call for prayer. He knows his heritage, and knows his place in the world. For him, his place is with his son, Naji, a fourteen-year old boy who knows only the pottery shop, since he doesn’t go to school, and their life is in Nazareth, where Muhsin and Naji were born.

Despite the Palestinian unrest in Israel, Muhsin doesn’t protest, nor does he partake in riots or demonstrations, or pickets, or anything that brings any attention to him. All he wants to do is make vases, pots, and amphorae to sell in the market and take care of Naji. He’s a single father, because his wife Sanya had left him and Naji three years prior after their first born son, Ali, was killed by IDF soldiers during what came to be known as the Ramadan Rebellion. Sanya is not Palestinian. She’s Syrian and she returned to her parents in Syria to escape the strife she came to know in Israel.

Naji, like any fourteen year-old boy, is growing fast and is taken by the unrest that surrounds him. He is easily influenced, and much of that influence is from the wrong corners of the town. He questions his father’s simple ways, and hates his mother, Sanya, when she returns to Nazareth to be reunited with her family.

Once they are together again, all they want is to be left alone and be a happy family. Unfortunately for them, others make for a difficult intrusion into their lives, mainly the terrorists who are recruiting Naji to partake in a plot to assassinate the Pope and Israeli prime minister.

But Mushin, Sanya, and Naji are good people. An innocent family caught up in the conflict, and they respond, I believe, as any good family would. One thing that really does impact their circumstances is the very old vase that Muhsin has kept in his basement. It's part of a collection that belonged to his father. You'll have to read the book to find out more about that.

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about Professor Hiram Weiss.

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