The Palace of Angels

Birds born in a cage think that flying is a crime.
الطُيور اَلتى تُولَد فى القَفَصْ تَعتقِد أنَّ اَلطيران جَريمَة

Interwoven in the anguish and trauma of Palestine, is a cross-border romance of ineffable charm—served equally with the remorseless realism of war and the bare-skinned surrender of two young warriors who break the rules. He, a Palestinian and she, an Israeli soldier—confront the tyrannies of power—political, religious, and personal.

In a surge of almost giddying prose that pulls us page-by-page, that questions our values in a fever of anticipation, the reader is confronted by the dichotomy between love and the lifetime punishment of war. What do we ultimately become when we are bereft of hope? Are we really prepared to pay the price for what we believe? This trilogy of novels begins with the reckless urge of idealism. It traverses the personal narrative rarely heard and closes with a finale that any lover would applaud. It is irresistible reading.

"Vital, brutal and tender, The Palace of the Angels is written with the urgency of breaking news and the delicacy of poetry. This is Morsi at his passionate best."
Geraldine Brooks

"Morsi is a tremendous storyteller who pulls off this ambitious, big work because he pays attention to the details, treating his characters with tenderness even at the moments when the reader thinks they least deserve it. This is a book to be read and re-read."
Randa Abdel-Fattah