From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The title of this moving, well-crafted book refers to a tree in the backyard of a home in Ramla, Israel. The home is currently owned by Dalia, a Jewish woman whose family of Holocaust survivors emigrated from Bulgaria. But before Israel gained its independence in 1948, the house was owned by the Palestinian family of Bashir, who meets Dalia when he returns to see his family home after the Six-Day War of 1967. Journalist Tolan (Me & Hank) traces the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the parallel personal histories of Dalia and Bashir and their families—all refugees seeking a home. As Tolan takes the story forward, Dalia struggles with her Israeli identity, and Bashir struggles with decades in Israeli prisons for suspected terrorist activities. Those looking for even a symbolic magical solution to that conflict won't find it here: the lemon tree dies in 1998, just as the Israeli-Palestinian peace process stagnates. But as they follow Dalia and Bashir's difficult friendship, readers will experience one of the world's most stubborn conflicts firsthand. 2 maps. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Audiofile
This portrayal of two real families, one Jewish, the other Arab, is living history that someone will surely turn into a documentary. It reveals the parallel and divergent lives of Bashir and Dalia, both struggling since the 1940s through the bloody clashes in and around what is now Jewish Israel. Tolan's well-documented nonfiction explores the very souls of Bashir and Dalia--tortured, conflicted, proud, and hopeful, but rarely cheerful. That's why Tolan's voice is not the best fit for his own rich writing. He reads too fast and is too perky to perform this grave chapter in Middle Eastern history. A professional reader could make this an audio award winner. D.J.M. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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