Mornings in Jenin

Description

Mornings in Jenin is a multi-generational story about a Palestinian family. Forcibly removed from the olive-farming village of Ein Hod by the newly formed state of Israel in 1948, the Abulhejos are displaced to live in canvas tents in the Jenin refugee camp. We follow the Abulhejo family as they live through a half century of violent history. Amidst the loss and fear, hatred and pain, as their tents are replaced by more forebodingly permanent cinderblock huts, there is always the waiting, waiting to return to a lost home. The novel's voice is that of Amal, the granddaughter of the old village patriarch, a bright, sensitive girl who makes it out of the camps, only to return years later, to marry and bear a child. Through her eyes, with her evolving vision, we get the story of her brothers, one who is kidnapped to be raised Jewish, one who will end with bombs strapped to his middle. But of the many interwoven stories, stretching backward and forward in time, none is more important than Amal's own. Her story is one of love and loss, of childhood and marriage and parenthood, and finally the need to share her history with her daughter, to preserve the greatest love she has. Set against one of the twentieth century's most intractable political conflicts, Mornings in Jenin is a deeply human novel - a novel of history, identity, friendship, love, terrorism, surrender, courage, and hope. Its power forces us to take a fresh look at one of the defining conflicts of our lifetimes.

Promotion info

This book will appeal to fans of The Kite Runner, but also to the millions of people interested in and affected by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Rights have been sold in twenty countries, and is a number one bestseller in Norway and a number four bestseller in India This is the first commercial literary work to emerge from inside Palestine

Reviews

'One of the most thought-provoking books I've read ... written with passion and honesty, and poetry' Daily Mail 'Abulhawa's writing shines ... Friendship, adolescence, love: ordinary events, offset against extraordinary circumstances, make the story live' Independent 'The writer's pain - and the beauty of her prose - are very real' Daily Telegraph 'Powerful and moving' Stylist

Author description

Susan Abulhawa was born to refugees of the Six Day War of 1967, and moved to the United States as a teenager. In 2001, she founded Playgrounds for Palestine, Inc., to build playgrounds for children in occupied territories. A biologist, mother, and activist, Susan has contributed essays to the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, and Philadelphia Inquirer, among other publications. Mornings in Jenin, her first novel, was published in a hardcover edition by Journey Publications in 2006 under the title The Scar of David, but fell out of print. It will now be widely available for the first time, in a fully revised edition. Her Web site is www.scarofdavid.com.

Stock Information

General Fields

• ISBN : 9781408809488
• Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Imprint : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Publication date : February 2011
• Dimensions : 198mm X 129mm X 21mm
• Produced in : United Kingdom
• Availability date : February 2011
• Product Type : books

Special Fields

• Pages : 352
• Dewey classification : 813.6
• Bind : Paperback
• Author : Susan Abulhawa