Behind You Is the Sea

Description

2025 PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FINALIST – ANISFIELD-WOLF BOOK AWARD FINALIST

Washington Post Notable Works of Fiction from 2024 – Booklist Top 10 Debut Novels of 2024 – Ms. Magazine Favorite Books of the Year 2024 – Elle.com The Best Literary Fiction Books of 2024 – The New Yorker Best Books of 2024 – NPR Books We Love 2024 – NPR staffers pick their favorite fiction reads of 2024 – Chicago Public Library Must Read Books of 2024 for Fiction – Kirkus Reviews 20 Early 2024 Books We Love – San Francisco Chronicle Best Books of Winter 2023 – Muslim Girl “12 Palestinian Books that Deserve Your Shelf Space”

“A beautiful portrait of a family reaching for their dreams while holding on to their roots.”–Publishers Weekly

“Each chapter reads like a small masterpiece.”–Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

An exciting debut novel of interconnected stories that gives voice to the diverse residents of a Palestinian American community in Baltimore–from young activists in conflict with their traditional parents to the poor who clean for the rich–lives which intersect across divides of class, generation, and religion.

Funny and touching, Behind You Is the Sea brings us into the homes and lives of three main families–the Baladis, the Salamehs, and the Ammars–Palestinian immigrants who’ve all found a different welcome in America.

Their various fates and struggles cause their community dynamic to sizzle and sometimes explode: The wealthy Ammar family employs young Maysoon Baladi, whose own family struggles financially, to clean up after their spoiled teenagers. Meanwhile, Marcus Salameh confronts his father in an effort to protect his younger sister for “dishonoring” their name. Only a trip to Palestine, where Marcus experiences an unexpected and dramatic transformation, can bridge this seemingly unbridgeable divide between the two generations.

Behind You Is the Sea faces stereotypes about Palestinian culture head-on and, shifting perspectives to weave a complex social fabric, this compelling family saga is replete with weddings, funerals, broken hearts, and devastating secrets.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Author: Susan Muaddi Darraj
Published: 01/16/2024
Publisher: Harpervia
ISBN: 9780063324237
Pages: 256
Weight: 0.74lbs
Size: 1.10″ H x 8.40″ L x 5.50″ W

About the Author
Muaddi Darraj, Susan: –

Susan Muaddi Darraj is the author of American Book Award-winner A Curious Land and was a finalist for a Palestine Book Award. A United States Artists’ Ford Fellow and past winner of the Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Award, she is also the author of Farah Rocks, the first children’s book series to feature a Palestinian American character. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland, and teaches at Harford Community College and Johns Hopkins University.