Mornings in Jenin - by Susan Abulhawa (Paperback)

About the Book

A heart-wrenching, powerfully written novel, "Mornings in Jenin" tells of the Abulhega family, who is forced from the ancient village of Ein Hod into a refugee camp by the newly formed state of Israel in 1948.

Book Synopsis

"Susan Abulhawa possesses the heart of a warrior . . . A major writer of our time, to read [her] is to begin to understand not simply the misinformation we have received for decades about what has gone on in Palestine and the Middle East, but to come to terms with our own resistance to feeling the terror of our own fear of Truth."-Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

In the refugee camp of Jenin, Amal is born into a world of loss-of home, country, and heritage. Her Palestinian family was driven from their ancestral village by the newly formed state of Israel in 1948. As the villagers fled that day, Amal's older brother, just a baby, was stolen away by an Israeli soldier. In Jenin, the adults subsist on memories, waiting to return to the homes they love. Amal's mother has walled away her heart with grief, and her father labors all day. But in the fleeting peacefulness of dawn, he reads to his young daughter daily, and she can feel his love for her, "as big as the ocean and all its fishes." On those quiet mornings, they dream together of a brighter future.

This is Amal's story, the story of one family's struggle and survival through over sixty years of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, carrying us from Jenin to Jerusalem, to Lebanon and the anonymity of America. It is a story shaped by scars and fear, but also by the transformative intimacy of marriage and the fierce protectiveness of motherhood. It is a story of faith, forgiveness, and life-sustaining love.

Mornings in Jenin is haunting and heart-wrenching, a novel of vital contemporary importance. Lending human voices to the headlines, it forces us to take a fresh look at one of the defining political conflicts of our lifetimes.

Review Quotes

"Every now and again a literary work changes the way people think. Abulhawa...has crafted a brilliant first novel about Palestine... [This] intensely beautiful fictionalized history... should be read by both politicians and those interested in contemporary politics." --Library Journal

"This complex story is beautifully told... The perspective is brutal, yet ultimately not without hope... [Abulhawa] draws us into the nightmare of her heroine's existence with convincing passion." --Historical Novels Review

"Illuminating and deeply moving, Abulhawa's epic resonates with compassion...You can't ask more of historical fiction." --Brooklyn Rail

"Abulhawa's pathos and mastery enables the reader to taste, smell and grasp the chronicles of Palestine as if one is actually there... Lovely and heartrending, this story is a must-read for those who wish to not only understand the catastrophe of the Palestinians with their heads but with their hearts." --Palestine Chronicle

About the Author

Susan Abulhawa was born to Palestinian refugees of the 1967 war. Currently living in Pennsylvania with her daughter, she is a human rights activist and frequent political commentator. She is the founder of Playgrounds for Palestine, an organization dedicated to upholding Palestinian children's Right to Play. Her first novel, Mornings in Jenin, was an international bestseller, with rights sold in thirty languages. She is also the author of The Blue Between Sky and Water and, most recently, Against the Loveless World, a finalist for the Aspen Words Prize and winner of the 2021 Palestine Book Award and the 2021 Arab American Book Award.