Hope Street, Jerusalem
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- €9.99
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- €9.99
Publisher Description
A love story that shines a hopeful light on a city where the choice of a romantic table by the window can turn into a life or death decision, from the award-winning aurthor of OUR WOMAN IN KABUL.
'I had no idea how demanding this consuming, cruel, dangerous and fascinating place would be. I would fall in love here, I would do some of my best reporting, I would be injured, ending my run of good luck - my life would change dramatically ...' Moving to a strange city always takes courage, but never more so than in a place where the daily expression of love and hate can turn a simple choice of a romantic table by the window into a life or death decision. Both a love story and bittersweet tribute to her beloved adopted city of Jerusalem, Irris Makler shines a hopeful light on a part of the world where the news reports often makes it seem impossibly dark. From juggling the danger and unpredictability of her work as a roving foreign correspondent , covering everything from Palestinian suicide attacks to Israeli incursions into the West Bank, to falling in love with a handsome and charming young Israeli, and gaining a mischievious four-legged companion along the way, she allows us an intimate glimpse into a passionate, vibrant and fascinating world. Adventurous, compassionate and engagingly honest, the award-winning author of OUR WOMAN IN KABUL is a master at capturing the personal stories behind the news we really want to know - and her story is the most interesting of all.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Makler (Our Woman in Kabul) describes life as a journalist based in Jerusalem where she lived for seven years in this far-reaching but uneven memoir. Having filed stories around the globe for radio, TV and online news outlets, she knows the physical and emotional perils of working as foreign correspondent in in a post-9/11 world. She describes the personal tolls and the inherent loneliness of juggling her career and new life abroad, "Too many drivers, not enough friends. That was my verdict as I slung my suitcases into the boot of yet another cab, in yet another dangerous location." Despite these hardships, the author seldom tires of the setting. In evocative prose, she celebrates the unique qualities of the Old City, where the turmoil of modern-day Jerusalem fades away only to be replace by "a bustling Middle Eastern souk... Stalls overflowed with jewelry, silver, gold, precious stones, lengths of glittering material, embroidered cloth, clothes, shoes, baskets of spices, beads, candles, perfumed oils, incense and crucifixes; the profusion part of the pleasure." But when Makler writes of a boyfriend 16 years younger, the narrative loses focus. The reader's interest wanes when she recalls a puppy they find and their attempt to name it as the volume veers farther afield. What began initially as from the story of a war reporter turns unfortunately into a pedestrian tale about a woman and her dog in a disappointing shift.
