The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan

Subtitle: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East

A friend recommended this book on her blog quite a long time ago. I finally got around to reading it and it is worth the time. This non-fiction book is about the history of the formation of Israel. The history is told by examining the lives of two individuals and their families. Dalia Eshkanzi immigrated to Israel at the age of 1 from Bulgaria. Bashir Khairi is a Palestinian whose family was forced to leave their hometown when he was around 6 years old in 1948. Dalia’s family ends up in the house that Bashir’s family has left.

I found myself referring to the three maps in the front of the book over and over again. First is the 1936 map of Palestine under the British Mandate. The second map shows the United Nations Partition Plan in November 1947. The town that Bashir’s family lives in, Al-Ramla, is in the Arab State, but borders the Jewish State. This is only a technicality as almost immediately this town is taken over by Israeli forces. The 2005 map of Israel and the Palestinian Territories shows Ramla as clearly being part of Israel.

This book really shows the impossible situation that anyone who lives in this area is in. Bashir is almost constantly being arrested and put in jail as he insists on the 1948 United Nations right of return plan. Yet, how can he return to a place where someone else is now living? And, for many Palestinians their homes no longer exist. Dalia meets Bashir and over many years they have many discussions, yet can never resolve anything. Dalia cannot go back to Bulgaria and she wants Bashir to accept the idea of Israel. Once her parents die Dalia even turns the house into an Arab kindergarten called Open House to foster Arab Jewish interactions.

I’d encourage you to read this book, if like me, you’ve read about the violence in Israel, but don’t really understand how it came about.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

In this fiction book Vida Winter is a popular author. She had one book published many years ago called Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation, however, the book only had 12 stories. She’s since lied to everyone who’s asked about what that thirteenth tale could be. She’s now dying and asks a relatively unknown biographer, Margaret Lea, to hear her tale.

The Thirteenth Tale is a gothic tale, by that I mean there is an old family, an old house, incest, servants, scientific experiments, babies, and a fire involved. Jane Eyre is the classic example of a gothic romance tale. This tale is not a romance, but rather a tale of family. The whole story is somewhat unbelievable when viewed from afar, but the writing is excellent and draws one in.

In Vida’s letter to ask Margaret to visit and write her biography Vida mentions how she fooled a reporter.

“I didn’t tell him the truth. How could I? I told him a story. An impoverished, malnourished little thing. No sparkle, no sequins, just a few dull and faded patches, roughly tacked together with the edges left frayed. The kind of story that looks like real life. Or what people imagine real life to be, which is something rather different.”

To ensure that Vida is telling the truth this time, Margaret asks for three things to verify her story. This leads to Margaret’s entanglements with people who are still living in the town where Vida grew up.

Margaret does move in with Vida and begin listening to her story. However, Margaret has her own secrets and her own story that gradually comes out along with Vida’s. Here Margaret contemplates her birthday:

“Unhappy birthday. From the day I was born, grief was always present. It settled like dust upon the household. It covered everyone and everything: it invaded us with every breath we took. It shrouded us in our own separate miseries.”

I think this novel compares favorably with Jane Eyre and is at least as compelling. I highly recommend it and it is on my list of top ten fiction books.