Mornings In Jenin

Product 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 & fear hatred & 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 & 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 & forward in time none is more important than Amal's own. Her story is one of love & loss of childhood & marriage & parenthood & 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 & hope. Its power forces us to take a fresh look at one of the defining conflicts of our lifetimes.