At times darkly humorous and ironic but also profoundly moving, Mother of Strangers, based on a true story, follows the lives of Subhi, a gifted fifteen-year-old mechanic, and Shams, the thirteen-year-old student he hopes one day to marry. In 1947, the cosmopolitan city of Jaffa – with its open-air markets, lively cafés, and cinemas overlooking the Mediterranean, and with a thriving orange export business in its bustling seaport – was a city where Muslims, Jews, and Christians had always lived peacefully together. But when the bombardment of the city begins in 1948, Jaffa becomes unrecognizable. Once vibrant neighbourhoods are flattened, families are forcibly removed from their homes and often separated, and those who remain are in constant danger of arrest and incarceration. Most of the population will flee to Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Gaza.
Suad Amiry has written a vivid and devastating account of a seminal moment in the history of the Middle East – the beginning of the end of Palestine and a portrait of a city irrevocably changed.
Über die Autorin / über den Autor:Suad Amiry is a writer and an architect. She is the author of six works of nonfiction, including Sharon and My Mother-in-Law, which was awarded the Viareggio-Versilia International Prize in 2004, and Golda Slept Here, which was awarded the Nonino Risit d’Aur Prize in 2014. Amiry received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and is the founder of the RIWAQ Centre for Architectural Conservation in Ramallah, where she lives.
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