Symmetry of Desires

The main characters of the novel "The Fourth Wish" - Amichai, Ofir, Churchill, Yuval - became friends back in school and managed to carry their friendship through the years. After serving in the army, they move from Haifa to Tel Aviv to find their path in life. It turns out that every four years they watch the World Cup final together. And in 1998, Amichai suggests making three wishes, to see four years later, during the next championship, what came true and what did not.

Churchill, dreaming of a career as a prosecutor, wishes to win a high-profile case. Amichai wants to open a clinic for alternative medicine. Ofir wants to quit his advertising job and publish a collection of short stories. All three of Yuval's wishes are connected with Yaara - to be with Yaara, to marry Yaara, so that he and Yaara will have a daughter.

"Did Amichai know that the idea he gave birth to would turn into a prophecy that would cruelly deceive us over the next four years, but strangely, it would retain its prophetic power?"

The next four years in the lives of the four friends unfold before our eyes. Together with them, we experience Churchill's betrayal - he takes Yaara away from Yuval. We connect with Ofir, who is having a nervous breakdown after the sudden death of his father and goes to India for a year, where he studies body practices. Ofir returns to Israel with a Danish woman named Maria and her seven-year-old daughter to open a private clinic and practice massage. Together we hold a shiva for "sad Ilana" - Amichai's wife. Serious and reserved, Ilana rarely participated in friendly gatherings. She taught at the university, studied psychology, and then decided to have plastic surgery to correct her nose and died from postoperative complications. Her death was a devastating blow to Amichai. It made him establish an association for the protection of patients' rights. Together with Churchill, we experience the removal from the most important case. Together with Ofir, we feel the joy of family life and future fatherhood.

Finally, together with Yuval, we plunge into the depths of depression - and once again find the meaning of life. Shortly before the 2002 championship, Yuval discovers that, ironically, each of them has fulfilled someone else's wish. And to complete the circle, he, Yuval, must write a book. He writes the story of four friends, the manuscript is ready, only editing is left, but Yuval gets into an accident and falls into a coma. Churchill takes the manuscript from the police station. He edits it. There is still time before the final. Perhaps Yuval will manage to recover.