Behind You Is the Sea: A Novel($12.16Value)

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. " Behind You Is the Sea sweeps readers along as its characters search for love, dignity, and belonging while carving out their own unique destinies. The result sometimes defies cultural tradition and risks deep losses, but these characters always land closer to their personal truths. With tenderness and fitting humor, Muaddi Darraj deftly weaves multiple Arab American voices into a resonant chorus of humanity." - Sahar Mustafah, author of The Beauty of Your Face "We desperately need more books like this in which Palestinian people are presented as beautiful, richly complex human beings, not consigned to insulting, diminishing references. Gratitude to Susan Muaddi Darraj for her very necessary, beautiful work." - Naomi Shihab Nye, award-winning poet and author of The Turtle of Michigan "Their homeland casts a heavy shadow in this poignant novel about Baltimore’s Palestinian immigrant community. Taken from a famous saying by legendary commander Tariq ibn Zayid, the title of Darraj’s novel aptly describes the situation facing her ensemble cast, which finds itself trapped between Old World expectations and the challenges of life in America. . . . [Stories are] masterfully choreographed in a book in which each chapter reads like a small masterpiece. . . . A moving portrait of Palestinian families caught between the pressures of the Old World and the New." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "[ Behind You Is the Sea ] is a shimmering composite portrait of a Palestinian American community in Baltimore. Across nine stellar linked stories, [Darraj] explores the complex relationships between characters divided by—or connected despite—class, language, and traditional values. . . . Darraj depicts the variety of immigrant and second-generation experience (especially women's), probing cultural and generational differences in a sensitive, life-affirming way. This compassionate novel-in-stories, set in a Palestinian American community, prioritizes the experiences of young women, and explores class and cultural divides that surround three families." - Shelf Awareness "There's a quiet power to  Behind You Is the Sea  that left me feeling a sense of awe. Susan Muaddi Darraj knows how to create a world of complex, rich emotions and unforgettable characters that live on beyond the last page. Darraj is simply one of our best." - Rion Amilcar Scott, author of The World Doesn't Require You "Susan Muaddi Darraj's  Behind You is the Sea  is a powerful and moving novel about the lives of Palestinian immigrants. Told in rich, lush prose, this propulsive and beautiful novel will stay with me for a long time. I loved it." - Brandon Hobson, National Book Award finalist and author of The Removed "The intertwined stories of Palestinian immigrants in Baltimore are thoughtfully rendered in this tapestry-like debut that grapples with questions of class, culture, gen