(Fiction, 244 pp. Hebrew, 1987; English translation, 2003)
Set in 1982 in the Arab quarter of Haifa, the Iraqi-born author’s bestseller paints a sensitive picture of a Christian Arab family, one of whose daughters enters into a romance with the Russian Jewish immigrant who moves upstairs. Contending with this unlikely turn of events, the protagonists and their families wrestle with complex questions of loyalty and identity.
