The Scar of David is historic fiction about a Palestinian family from the village of Ein Hod, which was emptied of its inhabitants by the newly formed State of Israel in 1948. It is told in the first person by Amal, who is born into that family in a UN-administered refugee camp in Jenin, where her family would eventually die waiting, or fighting, to return to their beloved Palestine. Set in lap of one of the 20 th century's most intractable political conflicts, this novel weaves through history, friendship, love, frayed identity, terrorism, exhaustion of the spirit, surrender, and courage. Three massacres and two major wars provide five corners to this novel: 1. Sabra and Shatila, Lebanon, 1982; 2. US embassy bombing, Beirut, 1983; 3. Refugee camp of Jenin, West Bank, 2002; 4. The Naqbe , Mandate Palestine, 1948; and 5. The Six Day War, Middle East, 1967. During the family's eviction from their ancestral village, Ishmael, Amal's brother is lost in the mayhem of people fleeing for their lives. Just a toddler at the time, Ishmael is raised by a Jewish family and grows up as David, an Israeli soldier. During the 1967 war, Yousef, Amal's eldest brother, comes face to face with David, his brother the Jew. Yousef recognizes his brother by a prominent scar across David's face. The title of this story takes its name from this scar, and assumes other layers of meaning as it is told. The end is the beginning: terrible suffering packaged by Western press into perfidious sound bites, like "the Middle East Conflict," and "War on Terrorism." But through the course of this story, a suicide bomber is given a name, face and life of a man pushed to incomprehensible limits; An Arab girl of pious and humble beginnings escapes her destiny and lives the "American Dream," which her soul cannot bear; An Israeli man becomes tangled in a truth he cannot reconcile, and his identity can find no repose but in the temporary anesthetic of alcohol.

The Scar of David

Literature & Fiction

Susan Abulhawa

Contemporary

Journey Pubns

Title: Mornings in Jenin Binding: Paperback Author: SusanAbulhawa Publisher: BloomsburyPublishingPLC

Mornings in Jenin

Bloomsbury Publishing

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.

Bloomsbury UK

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.

Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa (2011-02-07)

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

It is 1947, and Beit Daras, a rural Palestinian village, is home to the Baraka family - oldest daughter Nazmiyeh, brother Mamdouh, beautiful, dreamy Mariam and their widowed mother. When Israeli forces descend, sending the village up in flames, the family must take the long road to Gaza, in a walk that will test them to their limits. Sixty years later, in America, Mamdouh's granddaughter Nur falls in love with a doctor. Following him to his work in Gaza, she meets Alwan, who will help Nur discover the ties of kinship that transcend distance - and even death. Told with raw humanity, The Blue Between Sky and Water is a lyrical, devastatingly beautiful story of a family's relocation, separation, survival and love.

The Blue Between Sky and Water

Genre Fiction

BLOOMSBURY

It is 1947, and Beit Daras, a quiet village in Palestine surrounded by olive groves, is home to the Baraka family. Eldest daughter Nazmiyeh looks after her widowed mother, prone to wandering and strange outbursts, while her brother, Mamdouh, tends to the village bees. Their younger sister, Mariam, with her striking mismatched eyes, spends her days talking to imaginary friends and writing.When Israeli forces gather outside the town's borders, nobody suspects the terror that is about to descend. Soon the village is burning, and, amid smoke and ash, the family must take the long road to Gaza, in a walk that will test them to their limits.Sixty years later Mamdouh's granddaughter, Nur, is living in America. She falls in love with a married man, a doctor who works in Palestine, and follows him to Gaza. There she meets Alwan, the mother of Khaled—a boy trapped in his own body, unable to wake up from a deep blue dream. It is through her that Nur will at last discover the ties of kinship that transcend distance—and even death.The Blue Between Sky and Water is a story of powerful, flawed women; of relocation, separation, and heartache; of renewal, family, endurance, and love. Susan Abulhawa brings a raw humanity and delicate authority to the story of Palestine in this devastatingly beautiful tale.

Literary

Audible Studios on Brilliance Audio

Blue Between Sky and Water, The

Mornings in Jenin is a multigenerational 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. Amid 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 of the need to share her history with her daughter, to preserve the greatest love she has. Set against one of the 20th 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.

The Scar of David: A Novel

NewSouth Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Susan Abulhawa. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Susan Abulhawa

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Susan Abulhawa. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Scar of David

Mornings in Jenin

Mornings in Jenin

Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa (2011-02-07)

The Blue Between Sky and Water

The Blue Between Sky and Water

Blue Between Sky and Water, The

Mornings in Jenin

Mornings in Jenin

The Scar of David: A Novel