<p>This month <strong>Owen Kelly</strong> discusses <strong>Arlene Goldbard</strong>’s new book, a novel titled <em>The Intercessor,</em> and asks why she chose to write this unusual kind of novel at this particular time.</p><p>The novel offers a linked series of short stories, each foregrounding one character from a group whose stories eventually interlock. All of the characters have political, social or spiritual issues which come to seem less like categories than like different coloured lenses through which we can approach the world.</p><p>The novel explores the Jewish Renewal movement, among other themes, without wanting its audience limited to Jews or even less to Jews with an interest in the Jewish Renewal movement.</p><p>Arlene explains how this specific writing began, how the novel grew from the initial writing, and what she hopes the published book might achieve.</p>