Excerpt from The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

—If you're Jews, Svetlana continued, you will understand what life is like for us here.

—Now you're Jewish too? the second woman scoffed. It's news to me. Well, if you're so Jewish what are you still doing here? The other Jews, those with any sense, skipped off to Israel at the first opportunity.

—You see what we have to put up with, Svetlana said contemptuously.

—Is your husband from here? Kotler asked casually.

—No, from Kazakhstan, Svetlana said, and added defensively, There are many Jews from Kazakhstan.

—Well, I suppose it's better here than in Kazakhstan, Kotler said.

—If you have to struggle for your daily bread, it makes little difference, Kazakhstan or Crimea.

Kotler turned once more to Leora. He now had no trouble discerning her mind. He could tell that she disapproved of his inclination. She was savvy, disdainful of risk, and far less sentimental than he. Without a doubt, hers was the more prudent course, but he had never been good at stifling the contrarian part of his nature. And he was much too old to undertake a transformation.

—Doesn't it say in the Torah that you should first help your own kind? Svetlana pronounced.

—Does it? Kotler replied, but he had already made his decision. And even this comment didn't cause him to revise it.

He gripped the handle of his suitcase and tipped the bag so that it rested on its little wheels. Reluctantly, Leora did the same.

—Very well, Kotler said to Svetlana, after you.

Excerpted from The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis. Copyright © 2014 by David Bezmozgis. Excerpted by permission of Little Brown & Company. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.