Mornings in Jenin

Mornings in Jenin

"A powerful and passionate insight into what many Palestinians have had to endure… Susan Abulhawa guides us through traumatic events with anger and great tenderness, creating unforgettable images of a world in which humanity and inhumanity, selflessness and selfishness, love and hate grow so close to each other." - Michael Palin

"Every now and then a literary work changes the way people think. Highly recommended." - Library Journal

Widely believed to be the next Kite Runner and quite possibly the first literary fiction that deals in depth with the human side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, certainly from within Palestine; the release of Mornings in Jenin has been preceded by untold anticipation by industry insiders and curious readers alike.

Susan herself was born to refugees of the 1967 war when Israel captured what remained of Palestine. She writes fluidly and evocatively as she paints the enduring tale of the Abulheja family onto the very real canvas of one of the last century's longest and most distressing conflicts.

1948. The Abulheja family are forcibly removed from their ancestral home in Ein Hod and sent to live in a refugee camp in Jenin. Through Amal, the bright granddaughter of the patriarch, we witness the stories of her brothers: one, a stolen boy who becomes an Israeli solider; the other who is sacrificing everything for the Palestinian cause will become his enemy. Amal's own dramatic story threads its way through six decades of Palestinian-Israeli tension, eventually taking her into exile in Pennsylvania in America.

Amal's is a story of love and loss, of childhood, marriage and parenthood, and finally the need to share her history with her daughter to preserve the greatest love she has. Richly told and full of humanity, Mornings in Jenin forces us to take a fresh look at one of the defining political conflicts of our lifetime. It is an extraordinary debut.

Susan Abulhawa is the founder and President of Playgrounds for Palestine, a children's organisation dedicated to upholding The Right to Play for Palestinian children. Her essays and political commentaries have appeared in print and international news media and she is a contributing author of two anthologies. Mornings in Jenin is her first novel. She lives in Pennsylvania with her daughter.

Mornings in Jenin
Allen and Unwin
Author: Susan Abulhawa
ISBN: 9781408805879
Price: $32.99