Moving, tragic, and a must read, January 15, 2007 (Amazon.com)
By Brian Wood (Washington DC)

Ms. Abulhawa has composed a marvelous story that weaves history with fiction, personal experience with imagination into a dynamic novel that offers points of contact for readers of many backgrounds. Her narration thick with motherly affection and human virtue invites the reader to read slowly and truly experience the story she is trying to tell. Ein Hod, outside of current-day Jenin district, is the village of the Abul Heija’s, a rural Palestinian family who are forced to flee during the war in 1948. Amal Abul Heijah, the granddaughter of the family, takes center stage as a symbol of hope and the tenacious will of survival, creativity, and love, even if doubt, depression, and poverty cloud her dreams and opportunities. Amal’s struggle for self-identification, caused by several layers of displacement from family, land, and home, is constantly accompanied by her detailed memory, which ultimately leads her to her destination. A must read.