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Title details for Mother of Strangers by Suad Amiry - Available

Mother of Strangers

A Novel

by Suad Amiry
ebook
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1 of 1 copy available
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR from NPR  • Set in Jaffa in between 1947 and 1951, this “fable-like historical novel of young love ... darkly humorous and touching” (Oprah Daily) is based on a true story during the beginning of the destruction of Palestine and displacement of its people.
Based on the true story of two Jaffa teenagers, Mother of Strangers follows the daily lives of Subhi, a fifteen-year-old mechanic, and Shams, the thirteen-year-old student he hopes to marry one day. In this prosperous and cosmopolitan port city, with its bustling markets, cinemas, and cafés on the hills overlooking the Mediter­ranean Sea, we meet many other unforgettable charac­ters as well, including Khawaja Michael, the elegant and successful owner of orange groves above the harbor; Mr. Hassan, the tailor who makes Subhi’s treasured English suit, which he hopes will change his life; and the very mischievous and outrageous Uncle Habeeb, who insists on introducing Subhi to the local bordello.
 
With a thriving orange export business, Jaffa had always been a city welcoming to outsiders—the “Mother of Strangers”—where Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived peacefully together. Once the bombardment of the city begins in April 1948, Suad Amiry gives us the grim but fascinating details of the shock, panic, and destruc­tion that ensues. Jaffa becomes unrecognizable, with neighborhoods flattened, families removed from their homes and separated, and those who remain in constant danger of arrest and incarceration. Most of the popula­tion flees eastward to Jordan or by sea to Lebanon in the north or to Egypt and Gaza in the south. Subhi and Shams will never see each other again.
 
Suad Amiry has written a vivid and devastating ac­count of a seminal moment in the history of the Middle East—the beginning of the end of Palestine and a por­trait of a city irrevocably changed.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 2, 2022

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780593316566

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780593316566
      • File size: 5484 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      March 1, 2022

      Founder and director of RIWAQ, Centre for Architectural Conservation, in Ramallah, a participant in the 1991-93 Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, and the author numerous award-winning architecture titles, Amiry turns to fiction to chronicle the destruction of Palestine in 1947-51 and displacement of its people. The story is set in brightly cosmopolitan Jaffa and focuses on 15-year-old mechanic Subhi and Shams, the 13-year-old peasant girl he hopes one day to marry.

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 13, 2022
      Amiry’s stirring debut novel (after the memoir My Damascus) follows the young love between two Palestinians whose families become displaced during the 1947–1948 civil war. Subhi, a 15-year-old mechanic whiz, is sent to solve an irrigation problem with the orange groves of one of the richest merchants in the port city of Jaffa. For his work, Subhi earns an elegant English suit, which he dreams of wearing at his wedding to Shams, a peasant girl whose father works for Subhi’s. Wearing the suit, Subhi visits Jaffa’s upscale cafés, coffee shops, and cinemas, and his uncle takes him to a brothel. Over the course of a monthlong summer festival, Subhi hangs around and makes his feelings known to Shams; they kiss, but their encounter is fleeting, as Subhi worries his parents wouldn’t approve. Meanwhile, Britain’s withdrawal and plans to partition the country into Jewish and Arab states grips the city with fear as hostilities escalate. Three days of shelling by the Jewish militia in 1948 decimates the city, displacing thousands, and in the chaos, Subhi is arrested and Shams and her family flee as refugees but get separated. Though the end might feel a bit rushed, the characters feel achingly alive. Amiry’s eye-opening story will keep readers turning the pages.

    • Booklist

      Starred review from July 1, 2022
      Subhi is an ambitious, energetic 15-year-old boy mildly rebellious against the father who wants him to go into the family orange-growing business and the mother who exhorts him to stay in school and out of trouble. A whiz-kid mechanic, he earns the notice of the wealthy merchant, Khawaja Michael, who gifts him with an impeccably tailored wool suit, impractical in the summer heat of Jaffa, but perfect for impressing the love of Subhi's life, 13-year-old Shams. All is going well until caf� gossip about the end of the British mandate in Palestine in 1948 and a possible partition and occupation become alarming. Within a year, Subhi will see his beautiful city wracked by bombings and martial law that force his family and neighbors to flee. In her first novel, architect and memoirist Amiry keenly evokes the tension and anxiety of an occupation, during which no one quite knows what the rules are. As Jaffa falls to the Israelis, the focus shifts to Shams. Separated from her parents in a crowd of panicked refugees, she shepherds her two younger sisters to safety, but she will be faced with a terrible decision that may separate her from Subhi forever. A powerful story of love, loss, and the destruction of a nation.

      COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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