Faith For Beginners (2005), the debut novel by gay writer Aaron Hamburger, tells the humorous and heartbreaking story of the Michaelson family's reparative journey to Israel in 2000. Focusing mainly on Helen, the mother of two gay sons and wife to an ailing husband, and Jeremy, the younger of the two sons, the author has created some of the most unforgettable characters in recent fiction.

Through a series of unforeseeable circumstances and situations, Hamburger restores the readers' faith in the bonds of family and, ultimately, in the power of love to heal wounds, old and new. He also deftly comments on the long combustible political situation in Israel without ever getting overly political or preachy, which is, in itself, a commendable feat.

A recent recipient of the Rome Prize Fellowship, Hamburger was gracious enough to respond to our questions from Venice, Italy, where he is staying in a former convent that has been converted into a hotel.

AfterElton: Your first book, the short story collection The View from Stalin's Head , was set in Prague and your new novel Faith for Beginners is set in Israel . What compels you to set your books in exotic locations?
Aaron Hamburger: Actually, I think my books are really about America , but just extensions of ourselves in other places. One thing you may notice if you travel a good deal is how the world's culture is becoming increasingly similar, which is to say, increasingly American-influenced. I'm also interested in what happens to people when they're removed from their daily lives and forced to confront a new culture.
The modern wrinkle in this is now that there's a whole tradition of travel literature and travel films where white westerners go to dark eastern places and lose their inhibitions or confront some inner demon, there's an added expectation that on a trip to some 'exotic' place you will have some transformative experience. The disjunction between the fantasy and the reality fascinates me. Finally, it's a great excuse for me personally to travel.

AE: Was Faith for Beginners completed before or after the publication of The View from Stalin's Head?
AH: Before. I actually thought I was finished with Stalin's Head, but as it often happens, I wasn't. In the meantime, I began working on Faith, and then went back and forth for a while.

AE: Do you have a preference for the long or short form of fiction?
AH: I think it's much, much harder to write short stories. I don't know how I did it before or whether I'll be able to do it again. Writing a story collection is like writing ten novels, but in miniature. A novel seems more daunting at first, but it allows you as the writer to really relax into your characters and setting and get to know them over time. Also, as you grow personally, the novel grows as well. I wasn't the same person I was when I started the book and when I finished it. The novel changes accordingly.

AE: How much of Aaron is in Jeremy and vice versa?
AH: Very little of me is in Jeremy, and he was a difficult character for me to write. Jeremy, as you may remember, dabbles in all kinds of controlled substances and other pleasures. I've never even smoked a cigarette. I've never dyed my hair green or pierced myself with anything, certainly not a safety pin. But he was a pleasure for me to get to know because he's so bold and puts himself forward. Also, as the novel went on, I enjoyed getting to know his vulnerable side.

AE: What about in the case of his mother Helen?
AH: I was surprised by how much I related to her and how much of myself I'd invested in her. I think she is the hero of the novel, and so far readers seem to agree. I like her common sense values. In some way I agree with her idea (lifted from E.M. Forster in Howards End, which she's seen the film version of, though she can't remember the source) that if the mothers of the world were to get together there would be no more wars. Then again, you look at some of the suicide bombers' mothers, or the fanatical settlers in Gaza, and you wonder...