The Blue Between Sky and Water

From the author of the international bestseller Mornings in Jenin comes a powerful, passionate story of a family separated by conflict, and the tragedy they endure.

'The story Susan Abulhawa tells in this marvellous novel is hard to bear but impossible to ignore ... precise, courageous, and dazzling' - Teju Cole

'Gripping and deeply moving … Suffering and resilience are difficult things to witness, but this powerful, politically engaged novel does so with a transformative literary grace.' - Independent on Sunday

It is 1947, and Beit Daras, a rural Palestinian village, is home to the Baraka family – oldest daughter Nazmiyeh, brother Mamdouh, beautiful, dreamy Mariam and their widowed mother. When Israeli forces descend, sending the village up in flames, the family must take the long road to Gaza, in a walk that will test them to their limits.

Sixty years later, in America, Mamdouh’s granddaughter Nur falls in love with a doctor. Following him to his work in Gaza, she meets Alwan, who will help Nur discover the ties of kinship that transcend distance – and even death.

Told with raw humanity, The Blue Between Sky and Water is a lyrical, devastatingly beautiful story of a family’s relocation, separation, survival, and love.