Mornings in Jenin
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4.5 • 15 Ratings
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
A heart-wrenching, powerfully written novel spanning the epic story of three generations of one Palestinian family
'One of the most thought-provoking books I've read ... written with passion and honesty, and poetry' Daily Mail
Mornings in Jenin is a devastating novel of love and loss, war and oppression, and heartbreak and hope, spanning five countries and four generations of one of the most intractable conflicts of our lifetime.
Palestine, 1948. Half a million Palestinians are forced from their homes. A mother clutches her six-month-old son as Israeli soldiers march through the village of Ein Hod. In a split second, her son is snatched from her arms and the fate of the Abulheja family is changed forever.
Forced into a refugee camp in Jenin and exiled from the ancient village that is their lifeblood, the family struggles to rebuild their world. Their stories unfold through the eyes of the youngest sibling, Amal, the daughter born in the camp who will eventually find herself alone in the United States; the eldest son who loses everything in the struggle for freedom; the stolen son who grows up as an Israeli, becoming an enemy soldier to his own brother.
'The writer's pain - and the beauty of her prose - are very real' Telegraph
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this richly detailed, beautiful and resonant novel examining the Palestinian and Jewish conflicts from the mid-20th century to 2002, (originally published as The Scar of David in 2006, and now republished after a new edit), Abulhawa gives the terrible conflict a human face. The tale opens with Amal staring down the barrel of a soldier's gun and moves backward to present the history that preceded that moment. In 1941 Palestine, Amal's grandparents are living on an olive farm in the village of Ein Hod. Their oldest son, Hasan, is best friends with a refugee Jewish boy, Ari Perlstein as WWII rages elsewhere. But in May 1948, the Jewish state of Israel is proclaimed, and Ein Hod, founded in 1189 C.E., "was cleared of its Palestinian children..." and the residents moved to Jenin refugee camp, where Amal is born. Through her eyes we experience the indignities and sufferings of the Palestinian refugees and also friendship and love. Abulhawa makes a great effort to empathize with all sides and tells an affecting and important story that succeeds as both literature and social commentary.
Customer Reviews
“This book will stay with you forever.“
Out of the many books I’ve read, only Mornings in Jenin has been capable of bringing me to genuine, unadulterated tears. Abulhawa does justice to a century and more of violent dispossession, capturing the generational and collective trauma experienced by all Palestinians in a way I’ve not seen done before. My heart is aching, weeping, wailing. This book will stay with you forever.
Full of emotions!
Great book with all emotions felt