‘Close to perfect’ JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER, bestselling author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
‘I’d follow this writer anywhere’ REBECCA MAKKAI, bestselling author of The Great Believers
For every tree, there is a double. One above ground, and another below. There is a tree that is visible, with its branches climbing skyward, and another tree, with a network of roots in the earth, mirror images of each other.
Jerusalem, 1939. A Jewish bookbinder and his young niece, Agata, are hired to repair books at a family library in Talbiya, the fanciest neighbourhood in Jerusalem. They arrive at an elegant villa of white limestone, surrounded by flowers and fruit trees. Agata – a refugee from Prague – sees the balconies, stained glass windows and beautiful garden, and thinks, I want to live here, someday.
The house belongs to a family of affluent Palestinians, who own a successful soap factory in Nablus. Their youngest son, Bassam, befriends Agata, and the two spend the summer together in the lavish house.
Nine years later, the Nakba drives Bassam and his family out of the house, and they become refugees in the West Bank. Years after that, Agata and her family move into the house in Talbiya – now in the newly established state of Israel.
From Prague to Jerusalem, Ramallah, Berlin and New York, The House in Talbiya follows four generations of Agata and Bassam’s families over a turbulent century. With an unforgettable cast of characters – a failed Hebrew poet, a Palestinian actor, an eccentric engineer, a butterfly scientist, a West Bank human rights lawyer and more – Omer Friedlander’s debut is a sweeping yet intimate exploration of exile, loss and a yearning for home, passed from one generation to the next.
‘I’d follow this writer anywhere’ REBECCA MAKKAI, bestselling author of The Great Believers
For every tree, there is a double. One above ground, and another below. There is a tree that is visible, with its branches climbing skyward, and another tree, with a network of roots in the earth, mirror images of each other.
Jerusalem, 1939. A Jewish bookbinder and his young niece, Agata, are hired to repair books at a family library in Talbiya, the fanciest neighbourhood in Jerusalem. They arrive at an elegant villa of white limestone, surrounded by flowers and fruit trees. Agata – a refugee from Prague – sees the balconies, stained glass windows and beautiful garden, and thinks, I want to live here, someday.
The house belongs to a family of affluent Palestinians, who own a successful soap factory in Nablus. Their youngest son, Bassam, befriends Agata, and the two spend the summer together in the lavish house.
Nine years later, the Nakba drives Bassam and his family out of the house, and they become refugees in the West Bank. Years after that, Agata and her family move into the house in Talbiya – now in the newly established state of Israel.
From Prague to Jerusalem, Ramallah, Berlin and New York, The House in Talbiya follows four generations of Agata and Bassam’s families over a turbulent century. With an unforgettable cast of characters – a failed Hebrew poet, a Palestinian actor, an eccentric engineer, a butterfly scientist, a West Bank human rights lawyer and more – Omer Friedlander’s debut is a sweeping yet intimate exploration of exile, loss and a yearning for home, passed from one generation to the next.