A fascinating book!
This is the story of Palestinian refugees, how they became refugees, what it is like to live as a refugee now, and what life in Palestine was like before 1948 (when Israel began to take over). The author’s mother is a Palestinian refugee and in the book she moves to Palestine for a year to teach conflict resolution in a school. The story follows two threads: her experiences at school, and the much more moving thread of connecting with her mother’s story.
The author’s background is academic and it shows up occasionally in the writing: some sentences are jarring, the dialogue doesn’t flow naturally. And the sections about her teaching were not particularly captivating.
But overall I’m so glad I read this. I learned so much about Palestinian life, and found the author’s relationships with both her mother and husband very moving.

Beautifully written memoir of a refugee daughter who returned to Palestine for a year to teach conflict resolution in a school in Ramallah. Mona kept a journal of her time spent with the Palestinian, reconnecting with her motherland, heritage, and culture while tracing the footprints of their homes and their churches. In 1948, Palestine was home to Jews, Arabs, and Christians who coexisted; they were educated and accomplished until the Nakba, where 750,000 Palestinians became refugees and were never allowed to return home.

Thank you netgalley and threadbooks for giving me this ARC in return for an honest review.
I stumbled upon this ARC at netgalley at a time when I was looking for books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Mona, who has Palestinian roots and lives in the US, was invited to teach conflict resolution at a school in Ramallah, which is part of the Israeli Occupied Territories. Mona writes about the problems and violence the students face living in an occupied town and how the conflict has shaped them.
During weekends and breaks Mona follows in her mother’s footsteps. Zakia, a Palestinian Catholic was forced to flee to Egypt during the Arab-Israeli war. Mona is able to locate her mother’s childhood home. In one of the most touching but heartbreaking parts of the book Zakia joins her and Mona discovers her homeland which she only knew through her mother’s stories.
The descriptions are very vivid, making it easy to get immersed into Mona’s journey.
The book is very insightful and combines the narration of a family history with insights how the conflict affects various generations, those who had to flee and those who stayed behind, the past and the present.
One of the best books of 2021 and one that will stay on my mind for a long time. I would recommend the book to anyone and have already pre-ordered the hard copy.

I think I’d love this story but the writing just isn’t gelling with me. After reading over half of it, I’ve requested the audio arc instead of continuing to struggle through the e-arc. Again - I think the story is enthralling but something about the writing is just hard for me to track with.

When Mona moved from California to Ramallah to teach conflict resolution in a school for a year, she kept a journal. Within its pages, she wrote her impressions of her homeland, a place she had only experienced through her mother’s memories.

As she settled into her teaching role, getting to know her students and the challenges they faced living in a militarized, occupied town, Mona also embarked on a personal pilgrimage to find her mother’s home in Jerusalem.

Mona had dreamed of being guided by her mother down the old souqs, and the leafy streets of her neighborhood, listening to the muezzin’s call for prayer and the medley of church bells. But after fifty-nine years of exile, it was Mona’s mother who held her daughter’s hand as they visited Jerusalem together, walking the narrow cobblestone alleys of the Old City. Their roles were reversed. Mona had become her Mama’s legs and her memory – and the one to tell her story going forward.
Wow what a moving biography, I had so many emotions reading this book. Giving this one the full ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A beautifully written insightful memoir of the author’s experiences in Palestine, as she lived there for one-year teaching conflict resolution at the Ramallah Friends School.

Her mother, Zakia had been forced to leave Palestine due to growing unrest and violence in the country and had intended to return after the situation calmed down, which for Palestinian refugees unfortunately became never.

Luckily, due to Zakia’s Swiss passport she was granted the privilege of being able to visit the country of her birth and youth and some fifty-nine years later she visited her family home that was taken over by Jewish settlers and glimpse the life that was taken from her.

I loved reading the letters the author’s mother wrote to her recounting her life and memories and how she remained bound to her identity as a Christian Arab as she attested to the peaceful coexistence of religions in the country that was divided tragically along communal lines by the events of 1948.

The vivid descriptions of the landscapes, the homes, and the villages as well as the diverse neighborhoods, the caring neighbors and the delicious Palestinian cuisine all made for a very poignant read.

The author intimately documents her time spent with the Palestinian children, reconnecting with her motherland, her heritage and culture, and tracing the footsteps of her ancestors seeking what remains of their homes and their churches.

Though she was unable to inherit the land that rightfully belonged to her parents, I hope that the seeds the author bought of the fruit from the orange tree in her mother’s garden bear fruit in her garden too and that her children will never forget.

A very enlightening read and one that stays with you for a long time.

Thank you to the publishers & Netgalley for the ARC.

This is a beautifully written, emotional and enlightening true story. I loved reading about Mona’s year in Palestine, teaching conflict resolution in a school, and following her mother’s footsteps hoping to find the home she had to flee. Her mother’s letters telling her story showed her resilience as well as sadness. I really felt for the families forced to flee Palestine, leaving their homes behind. The author expressed their grief and sorrow so eloquently. The phrase ‘Refugees are like seeds that scatter in the wind, and land in different soils that become their reluctant homes’ is so poignant and expressive. A must read, if, like me, you want to understand the Israeli/Gazza conflict a little more.

Firstly, thankyou netgalley for another great arc find!!
This book couldn't have come at a more opportune time, when I was trying to understand a little better, the conflict going on in Israel/Gaza. This book is a first person narrative about real people, real families, and real events that happened more than half a century ago. Written very openly and directly it describes events experienced by the author's family when they were forced to flee Palestine and become refugees in their own homeland.

'Refugees are like seeds that scatter in the wind, and land in different soils that become their reluctant homes’, the author says.

When Mona moved from California to Ramallah to teach conflict resolution in a school for a year, she kept a journal. Within its pages, she wrote her impressions of her homeland, a place she had only experienced through her mother’s memories. As she settled into her teaching role, getting to know her students and the challenges they faced living in a militarized, occupied town, Mona also embarked on a personal pilgrimage to find her mother’s home in Jerusalem. Mona had dreamed of being guided by her mother down the old souqs, and the leafy streets of her neighborhood, listening to the muezzin’s call for prayer and the medley of church bells. But after fifty-nine years of exile, it was Mona’s mother who held her daughter’s hand as they visited Jerusalem together, walking the narrow cobblestone alleys of the Old City. Their roles were reversed. Mona had become her Mama’s legs and her memory – and the one to tell her story going forward.


My Mother’s Footsteps is a moving and heart-rending journey of a daughter discovering her roots and recovering her mother’s beloved past. It’s also an intimate and tender account of daily life for Palestinians as never seen before. A must read!! Definitely recommend it.

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“‘Refugees are like seeds that scatter in the wind, and land in different soils that become their reluctant homes’ my mother once told me. As a small child, I looked up at my mother and clutched her hand. The puffiness of her palm reminded me of a loaf of warm pita bread, and when she laced her fingers into mine like a pretzel, I felt safe. I would have walked with her to the ends of the earth.”

This is a beautifully written and intimate portrait of a relationship between a mother and daughter. To read ‘In My Mother’s Footsteps’ is like undertaking a sacred journey with Mona and her eighty-four-year-old mother, Zakia, tracing their footsteps back to Jerusalem after Zakia’s fifty-nine years of exile.

The book is a memoir in two voices, the author’s and her mother’s, the past and present intertwined. Zakia writes Mona letters during Mona’s year of teaching conflict resolution in Ramallah while Mona keeps a journal. Within its pages, she writes her impressions of her homeland, a place she has only experienced through her mother’s memories. She writes of the challenges teachers and students face while living in a militarized, occupied town and also sets off on a personal pilgrimage to find her mother’s home in Jerusalem.

Mona had dreamed of being guided by her mother down the old souqs, and the leafy streets of her neighborhood, listening to the muezzin’s call for prayer and the medley of church bells. But after so many years of exile, it is Zakia who holds her daughter’s hand as they visit Jerusalem together, walking the narrow cobblestone alleys of the Old City, their roles reversed.

This memoir offers a glimpse into the perpetual Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the eyes of both Mona and Zakia. ‘In My Mother’s Footsteps’ is a love letter to Palestine.

A huge thank you to @NetGalley and @ThreadBooks for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautifully written story told with honesty and passion. The most emotionally plangent memoir I have read in a very long time. It will jerk those tears right out of your head.
Until 1948 Palestine was home to Jews, Arabs and Christians living side-by-side. They were educated, accomplished, modern and cosmopolitan. In the Nakba of that year some 700,000 Palestinians became refugees and were never allowed to return home. The author's mother, Zakia, was one of those refugees. This is her story, and through it one learns of the tragedy of the Israeli Occupation for the people of Palestine and the loss of their homeland.
Surely one of the best books of 2021.

In My Mother’s Footsteps is a memoir about a Palestinian woman in the diaspora, the author Mona Hajjar Halaby, and the process of recovering the past that was stolen from her mother, a Palestinian Christian, when she was forced out of her home in Jerusalem in 1948 and deprived from the right to return following the Nakba, or Palestinian exodus.

Throughout the book, the author intertwines her families’ long story and links to Palestine and the history of the events that led to the forced removal of tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homes. Her writing is informative, powerful, moving and full of valid points about the current situation in the country.
Her descriptions of the places she visits in Palestine are exceptionally evocative, from the buildings and streets to the trees and the food she cooks and eats. I felt transported to the streets of Jerusalem and Ramallah, almost as if I was walking alongside her.

Her mother, whose voice we can also hear through the letters she sent her, is an inspiring figure, whose sorrow and nostalgia about her country are as present as her resilience and strength. The author’s love and admiration for her is apparent throughout the book, and I found it extremely touching.

She also narrates the time she spent living in a Palestinian town and working at a local school, where she helped children express their feelings and solve conflicts without resorting to violence. Her work is as heartening as it is sad, as many of the children had been affected by their context and had internalised issues, but her determination and hope kept her going and improved these children’s abilities to use peaceful tactics to solve their problems.

All in all, this is an extremely necessary book, narrated in a beautiful prose and which I found very insightful and poignant. Mona Hajjar Halaby has a powerful, persuasive voice. To finish, I would like to quote a sentence that, in my opinion, perfectly summarises the outcome of her journey: “Unbeknownst to me, in the process of recovering from my mother her beloved past I had found it for myself.”

If you loved works of fiction such as The Beekeeper of Aleppo or A Thousand Splendid Suns, this memoir will not disappoint.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thread Books for providing the free eARC of this amazing book.