A heartfelt journey to discover the joys of family and home.
Three women at different stages of life struggle to reconcile their own desires with the expectations of clashing Arab and American cultures in this first novel by an American woman who married into an Arab family.
After 20 years of marriage to Ahmed, a Palestinian-born restaurateur, American-born Margaret is beginning to have doubts. Although still a practicing Muslim, she hasn’t worn the hijab in years, not since she caught sight of herself in a mirror and did not recognize the old woman staring back at her. Her frustrations have only grown since her recently widowed mother-in-law, Zainab, has moved in, with her stifling prejudices against non-Arab and non-Muslim ways. Zainab herself isn’t entirely happy with the situation. Certainly, her eldest son ought to give his own mother refuge, but living in America affronts everything Zainab values. Even worse, her younger son, Khalid, has brought home another American bride, Alison, a student of Near Eastern studies. Of Syrian descent, Alison is at first intrigued to join a real Arab family, yet she tries to maintain her independence, watching rather than participating in daily prayer practices, for example. But Khalid soon begins monitoring her dress and behavior, shifting Islamic culture from her course of study to a scarf constricting her every movement. Tensions increase when Alison discovers she is pregnant, and she wonders whether motherhood will tether her even more tightly. Meanwhile, Ahmed announces a job offer in the United Arab Emirates, which pushes Margaret to realize the limits of her acculturation. Rich with culture, Warah’s debut novel deftly intertwines these three women’s tales of longing and sacrifice. Yet at times the characters fall flat; Zainab in particular seems smothered by stereotypes, as she focuses unceasingly on her faith, family, and lost homeland. Consequently, the final epiphanies, while emotionally bursting, seem too easy.
A heartfelt journey to discover the joys of family and home.Pub Date: April 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62872-749-4
Page Count: 392
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.
Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II.
In 1995, an elderly unnamed widow is moving into an Oregon nursing home on the urging of her controlling son, Julien, a surgeon. This trajectory is interrupted when she receives an invitation to return to France to attend a ceremony honoring passeurs: people who aided the escape of others during the war. Cut to spring, 1940: Viann has said goodbye to husband Antoine, who's off to hold the Maginot line against invading Germans. She returns to tending her small farm, Le Jardin, in the Loire Valley, teaching at the local school and coping with daughter Sophie’s adolescent rebellion. Soon, that world is upended: The Germans march into Paris and refugees flee south, overrunning Viann’s land. Her long-estranged younger sister, Isabelle, who has been kicked out of multiple convent schools, is sent to Le Jardin by Julien, their father in Paris, a drunken, decidedly unpaternal Great War veteran. As the depredations increase in the occupied zone—food rationing, systematic looting, and the billeting of a German officer, Capt. Beck, at Le Jardin—Isabelle’s outspokenness is a liability. She joins the Resistance, volunteering for dangerous duty: shepherding downed Allied airmen across the Pyrenees to Spain. Code-named the Nightingale, Isabelle will rescue many before she's captured. Meanwhile, Viann’s journey from passive to active resistance is less dramatic but no less wrenching. Hannah vividly demonstrates how the Nazis, through starvation, intimidation and barbarity both casual and calculated, demoralized the French, engineering a community collapse that enabled the deportations and deaths of more than 70,000 Jews. Hannah’s proven storytelling skills are ideally suited to depicting such cataclysmic events, but her tendency to sentimentalize undermines the gravitas of this tale.
Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-312-57722-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.
When tragedy strikes, a mother and daughter forge a new life.
Morgan felt obligated to marry her high school sweetheart, Chris, when she got pregnant with their daughter, Clara. But she secretly got along much better with Chris’ thoughtful best friend, Jonah, who was dating her sister, Jenny. Now her life as a stay-at-home parent has left her feeling empty but not ungrateful for what she has. Jonah and Jenny eventually broke up, but years later they had a one-night stand and Jenny got pregnant with their son, Elijah. Now Jonah is back in town, engaged to Jenny, and working at the local high school as Clara’s teacher. Clara dreams of being an actress and has a crush on Miller, who plans to go to film school, but her father doesn't approve. It doesn’t help that Miller already has a jealous girlfriend who stalks him via text from college. But Clara and Morgan’s home life changes radically when Chris and Jenny are killed in an accident, revealing long-buried secrets and forcing Morgan to reevaluate the life she chose when early motherhood forced her hand. Feeling betrayed by the adults in her life, Clara marches forward, acting both responsible and rebellious as she navigates her teenage years without her father and her aunt, while Jonah and Morgan's relationship evolves in the wake of the accident. Front-loaded with drama, the story leaves plenty of room for the mother and daughter to unpack their feelings and decide what’s next.
The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5420-1642-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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