First published 2012
January 7, 1948. Palestine stands four months away from Israel's official creation. Joseph and Ester Gale welcome their second son on the same day that Israeli military forces kill George Antoun's brothers at the Gate of Haifa. The Gales survived the Holocaust that destroyed Europe's Jewish communities. They came to the Middle East seeking their dream of a Jewish state. George and Mary Antoun flee Haifa, the only home they knew, during the brutal battle for the city. War's end brings no permission to return. They must raise their son Demetrius in the squalor of Shatila refugee camp in Beirut. Meanwhile, former SS officer Friedrich Kleist suffers nightmares from his time as a guard in the Warsaw Ghetto. The atrocities he witnessed torment him endlessly. His daughter Christine works as a volunteer nurse amid the Arab-Israeli conflict, offering him small comfort. As Arabs and Jews fight for control of the Holy Land, these three families discover how violence reshapes everything they believed about home, survival, and hope.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, war, 21st-century
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Palestine, Israel, Haifa, Shatila Refugee Camp, Beirut
Period: 1948
490 pages · Paperback · Best Seller
Content warnings: violence, war