My Façade: A Memoir

In MY FAÇADE - A Memoir, John R. Screeton tells how he detaches himself from his alcoholic and inadequate parents in England and takes on a new identity in Israel. Living a Jewish façade, he plans to marry on a kibbutz but ends up in the gay world of Tel Aviv in search of a love he never had. Unhappy with life, he becomes an Orthodox Jew and resurfaces in the holy city of Jerusalem as Yonatan. The years and seasons pass but he is unable to keep up the complex role of religious Jew and becomes a devout Muslim named Yunus instead. As he ricochets between Islam and Judaism, between life in the Palestinian Territories and Israel, the reader witnesses the events that lead to his inevitable breakdown. Diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder he breaks away from society and wanders the Judean hills for years until he is rehoused in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. After years in psychotherapy, the past finally catches up and he comes face to face with his real-self and asks, "Who am I?"