Vignettes of a girlhood in Gaza remembered by a woman navigating a life far from Palestine.

I really loved this one - there’s no plot, it’s really just snapshots of a life, but it was so beautifully imbued with bittersweet longing for home when living in exile, and I think parts will speak to anybody living abroad (whether by choice or not). Our unnamed protagonist spent her childhood in Gaza, and we get reflective glimpses of everyday life as she grew up, from the joys of community despite everything to the horrors and indignities of living under occupation, and we see some of the lasting effects of traumatic childhood experiences. I haven’t seen this explicitly labelled as memoir, but I do get the impression that it is strongly informed by Hayek’s own life and experiences, “auto-fiction” if you will, which brings a richness and devastation to the writing. There’s a suggested playlist to accompany the book (easily found on Spotify) which was an interesting and novel experience for me, adding an extra element to my enjoyment of the book, despite my reading speed not at all matching the song lengths. A beautiful, vivid series of snapshots of the everyday life left behind in Palestine, a home yearned for from exile, a home that still speaks to the soul despite the necessity of leaving.