About the Author

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.

Reviews

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR from NPR

“A captivating novel about love amid warfare . . . a story as sobering as it is entertaining.”
—The Hudson Review

“Toward the beginning of this novel, Subhi – “the best mechanic in town,” despite being only 15 – is called to fix the well of a local citrus magnate. When he arrives at the grove, he is taken aback by how different the city of Jaffa looks from way up high; how seeing it from this vantage point must affect one’s hopes, fears, politics and loyalties. That sense of perspective-shifting carries throughout the book. The characters force readers to think about how our desires change when our settings do and how expansive (or limited) our sense of reality might be.”
—“Books We Love 2022,” NPR

“[A] moving story. . . . Mother of Strangers describes the price paid in human lives when exclusivist states are created violently.” —Middle East Books Review

“[Mother of Strangers] invites readers to consider the human cost of the ongoing, tragic conflict in the Middle East. As always, the past is not past.”
—Washington Independent Review of Books

“Based on a true story, Mother of Strangers is a fable-like historical novel of young love . . . Darkly humorous and touching . . . We’re shown this entire messy, glorious universe that existed before war rained down.”
—Oprah Daily

“A powerful story of love, loss, and the destruction of a nation.”
—Booklist, starred review

“Stirring . . . achingly alive . . . Amiry’s eye-opening story will keep readers turning the pages.”
—Publishers Weekly

“I was bedazzled by Mother of Strangers. How extraordinarily brave to weave a story about the destruction of one’s city, the displacement of family—separating lovers young and old—and the beginning of the end of Palestine. I loved that Suad Amiry based her novel on a true story. I loved the humor as I clutched my heart.”
—Hanan al Shaykh, author of Beirut Blues
 
“Mother Of Strangers is a passionate and a deeply moving story of the price Palestinians paid for the creation of Israel.”
—Michael Palin, author, actor, and member of Monty Python