BEHOLD THE FIRE by Michael Blankfort. 397 pages. The New American Library. $5.95.
During World War I, long before the Maccabees of Leon Uris' Exodus, a tiny Jewish spy ring began operating against the Turkish rulers of Palestine. It was an unlikely group: an agronomist, a poet, a mule trader, a part-time fiddler, two frightened young women and a handful of farmers, none of whom had ever spied before. As this unusual and essentially accurate novel shows, it was a bitter and frustrating adventureĀfor those who lived through it.
Led by Agronomist Judah Singer, the ring hoped to persuade the British to attack...