“Our bond was Palestine. It was a language we dismantled to construct a home.”

~ Through the heartbreaking story of Abulheja family, a Palestinian family massacred  within the confinement of  words like “refugee”, this story seeks belonging within you. A belonging for the ache of homeland. A belonging for the ache of a family ripped by the war. It builds within you, page by page, misery by misery, ache by ache. It makes your heart feel heavy, in a way you might never have known heaviness. It seeks room in your heart, ends up adding glistening tears in your eyes, & leaves a memory of pain on your skin, a wound that will hurt you over & over again. It’s pain, yearning, love, & everything “wrapped in a storm of paper & ink.”

~ Each character feels like your own. Amal, Yousef, Dalia..become the names you feel like adding in the long lists of your prayers. You feel the ache, loss & bliss of motherhood, siblings, family seeping in your bones, tugging at the tight knots of your soul, making you feel miles beyond your self.

~ No amount of words can do justice to the beauty, honesty & clarity with which @susanabulhawa has weaved every single page, thought, emotion, of this heartbreaking piece of work. This book echoes within you.

~ I couldn’t read it in a single sitting. This book demanded to be read like you’ve never read a book before. It left a mark, so deep, I don’t know what else to feel, as of now.