“There were no great books in my childhood. But there were women as great as books.”

I've really been figuring out this year what I love from a short story collection (also hi hello I'm so behind on all of this). I think, for me, the ones that are really haunting are what I prefer - where they reach out from the pages and just grip your soul. This one is much more on the LitFic side, but still really beautifully written.

Helawy uses this collection to tell the stories of Bedouin girls and women in Palestine. We as the reader witness stories of growing up and womanhood, acts of rebellion against societal norms, bonds between women, migration, and more. The stories are short and complex. Like any good short story, you find more to think about each time you read. I don't know if I'll ever read the full collection again, but there are a few stories I would return to.

My favorites included:
They Fell Like Stars From the Sky
Serpent
All the Love I've Known
Umm Kulthum's Intercessor
The Door to the Body
Three Paintings
Queens of Darkness

For many of the stories, reading them twice was almost essential. Helawy builds a story and a character really well to the point that it's easy to get swept away in the story and left needing to return. Not every entry was ultimately memorable for me, but each one taught me something and left me a little introspective. And for me, that makes it a collection worth reading.