Adam LeBor

Black Vs White

The Last Jews of Kerala

By

Portobello Books 258pp £16.99 order from our bookshop

There’s an old joke about a Jewish passenger on a cruise ship that sinks. The passenger, let’s call him Mr Cohen, manages to swim to a nearby desert island, where he sets up home and waits to be rescued. Life is not too bad; there is a plentiful supply of food and water. Several years later another ship finally arrives. The captain asks what the two buildings on the island are. 

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