‘Beautiful stories of growing up in Gaza.’ — The White Review

‘A tender, beautiful book.’ — The New Arab

‘A book I devoured in a single sitting.’ — Middle East Eye

‘Hayek … is one of the most talented Palestinian writers writing in English today.’ — The Electronic Intifada

‘Unflinching in its raw honesty … this will not disappoint.’ — The Markaz Review

‘Alight with humour and shared pain.’ — Words Without Borders

‘Hayek shares the poignant logic of exile through fragmented stories of a girlhood.’ — Mondoweiss

‘A searing work of growing up in war-torn Palestine … a succour to such souls who have had similar experiences.’ — Feminism in India

‘About finding and making love and life through and within impossibility.’ — Full Stop

‘Delicate and powerful … This work will remain with you long after reading.’ — Rafeef Ziadah, poet, activist and co-editor of Revolutionary Feminisms

‘A genuine, bittersweet taste of Gaza. I dwelled on it like a child searching for familiarity and found godly comfort, tears and joy.’ — Meera Adnan, Palestinian fashion designer

‘Each character feels as familiar as kin, with Gaza as the effervescent, maligned and transcendent protagonist.’ — Zena Agha, author of Objects from April and May

‘An act of restoration and celebration. Heba’s light-footed, lyrical writing dazzles with its depth.’ — Rebecca Tamás, author of Strangers

‘Heba reaches for home through pastries named for little kisses, and I am torn apart.’ — Aisha Sabatini Sloan, author of Borealis

‘Heba’s writing radiates … in glittering prose that cuts through bone.’ — Akil Kumarasamy, author of Half Gods

‘A timeless expression of love and reckoning.’ — TaraShea Nesbit, author of Beheld

‘Tender and elegant … establishes [Hayek] as a critical new voice on gender, family and war.’ — Daisy Hernández, co-editor of Colonize This!

‘A beautiful and emotionally charged collection … Heba’s clarity effortlessly draws the reader into her world.’ — Yara Hawari, author of The Stone House

In Palestine with Books — Words Without Borders

REVIEW: Sambac searches for ‘home in exile’ — The Electronic Intifada

REVIEW: War as setting and protagonist — Mondoweiss

Palestine Book Awards shortlist 2022 — Palestine Book Awards

REVIEW: In Search of a Home Disappearing — Feminism in India

REVIEW: Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies — Full Stop

The best books by Arab authors in 2021 — The New Arab

Books of the Year — The White Review

2021’s best books — Middle East Eye

EXTRACTS: ‘Did You Know’ and ‘Special Plants’ — Salvage, Issue 11, Autumn–Winter 2021

REVIEW: Heba Hayek’s Gaza Memories — The Markaz Review

EXTRACT: Guns and Figs — The Markaz Review

EXTRACT: A Carry-On Full of Pictures and Letters — Wasafiri

The Distant Here — Shubbak Festival

Shubbak 2021: 8 must-see events at this year’s festival — The Evening Standard

29 July 2021
Paperback / 9781914221026
ebook / 9781914221088
198 × 129 mm
130 pages