"There was a time when they lived in the village of Beit Daras, and the sun was hot and the earth was rich. There were ruins dating back to the Crusades; now their homes, too, are ruins, and they are refugees in the small strip of Gaza. And yet, when young Khaled dies, and moves on to the afterlife, it is back in Beit Daras that he finds himself. And from here he may slip through history, watching the continuing the story of his matriarchal family. He sees his grandmother, Nazmiyeh, once the prettiest, baddest girl in the town, the eternal ringleader. The other girls felt she hung the sky. He sees his mother, Alwan, who loves quietly and strongly, and who sustains the family through her embroidery work, stitching the stars and moon in place. He sees the great-aunts and cousins, and his sunny little sister, Rhet Shel. Finally, there is the branch of the family that moves to Kuwait, and then to America, where Nur, his mother's cousin, begins to lose herself. She will return to Mediterranean shores to find her past, and rediscover the ties of kinship that transcend distance and even death. Born of the violent, troubling history which continues to rage forth and claim its dead, The Blue Between Sky and Water is very much a novel of survival, and of the vivid, powerful women whose world they manage, with each day, to enlarge and to enliven"
The Blue Between Sky and Water
Year
2015
Pages
293
Description
"There was a time when they lived in the village of Beit Daras, and the sun was hot and the earth was rich. There were ruins dating back to the Crusades; now their homes, too, are ruins, and they are refugees in the small strip of Gaza. And yet, when young Khaled dies, and moves on to the afterlife, it is back in Beit Daras that he finds himself. And from here he may slip through history, watching the continuing the story of his matriarchal family. He sees his grandmother, Nazmiyeh, once the prettiest, baddest girl in the town, the eternal ringleader. The other girls felt she hung the sky. He sees his mother, Alwan, who loves quietly and strongly, and who sustains the family through her embroidery work, stitching the stars and moon in place. He sees the great-aunts and cousins, and his sunny little sister, Rhet Shel. Finally, there is the branch of the family that moves to Kuwait, and then to America, where Nur, his mother's cousin, begins to lose herself. She will return to Mediterranean shores to find her past, and rediscover the ties of kinship that transcend distance and even death. Born of the violent, troubling history which continues to rage forth and claim its dead, The Blue Between Sky and Water is very much a novel of survival, and of the vivid, powerful women whose world they manage, with each day, to enlarge and to enliven"
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