Mrs. Lilienblum’s Cloud Factory
A Novel
Format:
Available from:
Published by Astra House (2025-04-01)
A comic novel for fans of Adelle Waldman about a tech startup that turns sand into rain clouds from Sami Rohr prize winner Iddo Gefen.
Our story opens with Mrs. Lilienblum discovered drinking a martini in a crater in the Israeli desert. Eli, her adult son, tries to understand what happened to his wacky mother, while he also tackles the legend of a missing hiker named McMurphy, and whether he might be in love with Tamara, a visitor to his family’s hostel on the edge of a crater.
The story races forward as the Lilienblum family builds a company around Eli’s mother’s invention and makes comedy out of startup culture, the obsession with company valuation and funding, the secrets families keep, romantic and family love–all with humor, warmth and compassion.
Our story opens with Mrs. Lilienblum discovered drinking a martini in a crater in the Israeli desert. Eli, her adult son, tries to understand what happened to his wacky mother, while he also tackles the legend of a missing hiker named McMurphy, and whether he might be in love with Tamara, a visitor to his family’s hostel on the edge of a crater.
The story races forward as the Lilienblum family builds a company around Eli’s mother’s invention and makes comedy out of startup culture, the obsession with company valuation and funding, the secrets families keep, romantic and family love–all with humor, warmth and compassion.
Book Details
Format:
Hardcover
Price:
27 USD / 37 CAD
Published: 2025-04-01
ISBN: 9781662600876
Imprint:
Astra House
Page Count: 288
Trim Size: 5-1/2 x 8-1/4
“[A] comic masterpiece . . . the novel’s many savvy moments . . . reveal its undeniable humanity and make it such a delight.”
—Harvey Freedenberg, Shelf Awareness
“[Mrs. Lilienblum’s Cloud Factory is] an endlessly entertaining send-up of startup culture as well as a story about families, love, and secrets.”
—Naomi Firestone-Teeter, GOLDA
“Iddo Gefen has produced a marvelous novel—wise, surreal, funny and a fascinating story. Mrs. Lilienblum’s Cloud Factory has traces of Gabriel García Márquez, mixed with the wise men of Chelm, and a dash of Sunset Boulevard. A spectacular achievement.”
—Max Gross, author of The Lost Shtetl
“Like all true writers, Iddo Gefen knows that stories can do everything—except take the place of life. That his characters discover this for themselves is a testament to Mr. Gefen’s uncanny gifts and his novel’s enchanting power.”
—Jonathan Rosen, author of The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions