Love and Desire in the Promised Land
The Private Lives of Israelis and Palestinians
$38.55
- Hardcover
160 pages
- Release Date
9 June 2026
Summary
Love and Desire in the Promised Land collects a dozen interviews with real-life citizens of Israel and Gaza navigating messy boundaries in their homes and bedrooms against a background of geopolitical violence. Collecting interviews conducted before the October 7 attack unleashed a new wave of bloody conflict, the book introduces fascinating individuals and couples who speak frankly about the transgressions that define their experiences with intimacy. The portrayals represent a diverse population, including an interfaith celebrity power couple, an Orthodox gynecologist, a young gay Muslim, a Palestinian American feminist, a Ukrainian-Israeli artist, and a Palestinian lesbian in a relationship with an Israeli soldier. Through these candid conversations, recorded by Parent-Rachdi and illustrated with a warm touch by Deloupy, the authors humanize the people living in Israel and Gaza. As conflict wages around them, these ordinary citizens struggle with their all-too-human urges and desires that drive them to cross borders and boundaries in the name of love and sex.
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9798875001697 |
|---|---|
| Author: | Salome Parent-Rachdi, Deloupy |
| Publisher: | Fantagraphics |
| Imprint: | Fantagraphics |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 160 |
| Release Date: | 9 June 2026 |
| Dimensions: | 199mm x 278mm |
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Critics Review
Love and Desire appeals to this reviewer not only as a brilliantly-drawn comic but as an exercise in interviews, not example life-stories but not far away, the stories of sexual encounters that reveal much more.– “Comics Grinder”
Deloupy’s fluid, collage-like comics depict the diversity of both humans and landscape; he takes poetic license at evocative moments, and in others turns out journalistic courtroom-style sketches. The result is both joyful and sobering.– “Publishers Weekly”
This looks like a key release in the graphic journalism genre for 2026.– “Broken Frontier”
Love and Desire in the Promised Land urges read-ers to remem-ber the human-i-ty of those whose lives are shaped by the Israeli?-?Pales-tin-ian con-flict. It is thus vital read-ing for any-one invest-ed in the con-flict.– “Jewish Book Council”
This is a stunning work that humanizes groups of people so often defined internationally by their conflict.– “Booklist, Starred Review”
A fascinating record of human persistence in the midst of turmoil.– “Kirkus”
Like skilled seducers, the authors do not rush. They draw the reader in gradually, until their message finally lands with full force.– “Haaretz”
Salome Parent-Rachdi
Salomé Parent-Rachdi is a freelance journalist based in Paris. She was a correspondent in Israel and the Palestinian Territories from 2017 to 2020. She works for the written press and produces podcasts and TV documentaries.
Deloupy is a graduate of the Beaux-Arts d’Angoulême, having studied the graphic novel. He works as a freelance illustrator for advertising and has been publishing for children since 2002. He took part in Marjane Satrapi’s collective work Femme, vie, liberté.
Jenna Allen is a freelance translator based in Colorado.
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