While I loved the writing, this one just wasn't for me. It was a one I clicked from an email before looking at the description and it's just not my usual read.

Ayelet Tsabari's Songs for the Brokenhearted is a powerful debut novel that focuses on multiple generations of Zohara's Yemeni Jewish family. The narrative spans from the 1950s through the 1990s Israel and explores themes of cultural identity, religion, family, and oral musical traditions. It's a look into a culture of which I did not have much awareness, so this was an engaging read to me.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

Ayelet Tsabari's "Songs for the Brokenhearted" follows the lives of Saida and her daughter Zohara across two intertwined timelines. Set against the backdrop of 1950s Israel and 1990s New York, the novel explores the generational impact of immigration, culture, and family history.

In the 1950s, Saida starts a new chapter in her life as a resident of a Yemeni immigrant camp in Israel. Amidst this struggle, she meets the love of her life—who is not her husband—forcing her to reconcile personal desires with cultural expectations. Fast forward to 1995, Saida's daughter, Zohara, must return to Israel from her home in New York following her mother's death. As Zohara pieces together her mother's life, she uncovers hidden truths about Saida's experiences as a Yemeni Jewish woman in mid-20th-century Israel and begins to understand how those truths shaped her own identity.

This novel is a beautifully layered exploration of what it meant to be a Yemeni Jewish woman in the 1950s and how the weight of that history reverberates through generations. Tsabari's writing is smart and compelling, and she can deliver a story filled with resilience, love, and heartbreak.

As someone who loves a well-crafted story, this was my first time reading Ayelet Tsabari, and it won't be my last. If you're looking for a story that stays with you after the final page, "Songs for the Brokenhearted" is a must-read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the advanced reader's copy; all opinions expressed in this review are my own.

A Yemini woman returns home her mother dies and discovers secrets that had been kept from her. There was some interesting history in the book, particularly about the role that singing played in the life of Yemini woman, but I really couldn't warm up to any of the characters.

SONGS FOR THE BROKENHEARTED
Ayelet Tsabari

Scared to erase them from your surroundings because all that is left of them are their things and your memories of them. Afraid that you didn’t really look at them when they were alive. Didn’t really see who they really were. Upon their death you realize it is much too late to fix anything, much too late to make things new again. Much too late for forgiveness to be shared.

Forgiveness will be for you and you alone.

Zohara has just buried her mother. This is the beginning. She doesn’t really know who her mom is. As her child she was too busy being annoyed by her, embarrassed by her nature, too busy wishing she were like someone else to see who she was.

Her mom was a woman before the birth of her. Had a life worth living before giving her hers. Saida had a big life, a few big loves, and a voice so big it outshined her.

SONGS FOR THE BROKENHEARTED is about discovering who people are outside of your perception of them. It’s about finding out your parents were people before you and accepting who they are outside of your allowance of them.

It was an excellent read and an excellent reminder that accepting and loving who others are ultimately is how you learn to fully accept and love yourself. Learning and understanding others is how you learn and understand who you are.

So good!

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House | Random House for the advanced copy!

SONGS FOR THE BROKENHEARTED...⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This historical fiction novel spans two time periods and explores the lives of Jaqub, a Yemeni man living in a refugee camp in Israel, and Zohara, a woman returning to Israel after living in the United States following her mother’s passing.

The book sheds light on the experiences of Yemeni Jews and other Mizrahi Jews in Israel, highlighting the discrimination and hardships they faced upon their arrival. They were often forced to assimilate into Israeli culture and were treated as unequal. Particularly striking is the historical account of Yemeni children who went missing, many of whom were reportedly kidnapped and adopted into other families—a shocking and lesser-known chapter of history.

This novel serves as a reminder of the resilience of these communities and the challenges they endured, making it both an informative and thought-provoking read. It offers a compelling exploration of a history that is not widely discussed, sparking curiosity and a desire to learn more about these events.

For readers who enjoy historical fiction that brings to light lesser-known historical events and inspires deeper reflection, this is a highly recommended book. Its powerful narrative and historical depth leave a lasting impression.

In 1949, Saida, a Yemeni teenager arrives in Israel with her husband and infant son. She was a singer and songwriter as were many of the Yemeni women. While living in the temporary refugee encampment, Saida met her true love. He was forced to leave the camp and they never thought they’d meet again. Fast forward to 1995 and Saida’s death. Zohara returns from NY for the funeral and a reunion with her family, including her older sister Lizzie and her family. They have never been close. The shadow of their missing infant older brother was always with them. This is a novel about family, romance, stolen children, Yemeni culture and the music and poetry of the Yemeni women.

I really enjoyed this dual timeline historical fiction novel. The writing is beautiful and is based on real historical events. I thought the complexities of family and Israel were done with care. This was a little on the longer side for me, but overall, I really liked it.

Thank you Netgalley and
Random House Publishing Group - Random House | Random House for the advanced reader copy.

Wow! This book is a must read. It started a little slow, but then really got going. It's a fictional story about Yemenite Jews, which I knew very little about. Zohara is the daughter of a couple who emigrated from Yemen to Israel, and as a young adult she is living in New York working on a dissertation, and returns to Israel when her mother dies. There are some flashbacks to a young Yemini couple who have recently immigrated, and we learn the connection to Zohara's family. This book is really powerful and explores some issues not currently discussed. The modern time period is set in 1995, which if you know, was a tumultuous year in Israel, and very relevant to current events, but in a nuanced way. I will be recommending this book to others, and it will stick with me.

Thank you @netgalley for the Advanced Reader copy of Songs for the Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari. It is two stories, one of a couple meeting and falling in love in a refugee camp in 1950, and the other a women going to Israel from New York in 1995 when her mother dies. I could not get into this for some reason, so unfortunately did not finish it.

Songs for the Brokehearted
By Ayelet Tsabari

This is a book about many things: the early days of the state of Israel, the prejudice/misogyny/racism which arose from the mixed bag of cultures which went into the settling of the country; the struggle to bring peace to the area which resulted in violence. But most of all it is the story of Jewish women – most notably Yemeni Jewish women – who left behind all they knew to come, filled with hope, to Eretz Yisrael, the holy land.

The Yemeni Jews were looked down upon by their Ashkenazi compatriots as backward, stupid, ignorant. They were herded into tent camps on arrival, and subsequently many young children disappeared from the camps. Some sickened and died, some were given to others for adoption – and some just disappeared and were never found.

Yemeni women at the time had been brought up to be wives and mothers with no hopes or aspirations of their own. They were kept illiterate and had no means of self-expression but through their songs. Thus the woman developed a tradition of poetry, translated into their songs, handed down through the generations.

This book deals with multiple generations of one Yemeni family during the tumultuous period of the early days of Israel. It is, in many ways, an eye-opener. While Israel remains a beacon for worldwide Jewry, it is not perfect – as this book clearly shows. It is truly a learning experience.

This compelling novel begins in 1950, when Yaqub and Saidah meet in a Yemini refugee camp in Israel and fall in love despite the fact that Saidah is married and has a baby son. Although there is no possibility of. future together, the two share a strong and passionate attraction. The book intersperses scenes from the refugee camp with another narrative set in 1995 and revolving around Saidah's adult daughter, Zohara. A graduate student living in New York City, Zohara is wrestling with the aftermath of a broken marriage when she is called home upon the death of her mother. In Israel, her world includes her sister, with whom she has a strained relationship; her nephew; and others from her past. The 1995 timeline also incorporates political developments as well as the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin.

I was very moved by this story, which principally recounts Zohara's unpacking of her relationship with her mother. As she cleans out her mother's home, she confronts much about her mother that she never knew before. Ultimately she begins to create a new plan for her future, as the stories she uncovers about her mother help her learn more about herself as well.

I loved the way the author used significant historical events to propel the story forward and mirror the outlook, personality, and inner turmoil of the characters. This is a smart, well-written book that leads to a satisfying and fitting conclusion.



Living in New York, is wrestling with a broken

Songs for the Brokenhearted focuses on Zohara, a thirty-something year old returning to Israel following her mother's death and walking through her grief. After her return, she learns more about her mother's past and gains insight into the woman she truly was.

This novel opened up a part of history I knew little about and loved learning more about Yemeni women and their songs. I didn't particularly connect with Zohara, but I did love the flashbacks to the time of her mother's youth.

I enjoyed the author's voice, but did feel that parts of the story lulled a bit and slowed down the pacing.

Overall worth the read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House.

This was a beautiful and timely debut book. While it is historical fiction on double duty (set in both 1995 and 1950), it certainly speaks to some of our current world issues. I was not familiar at all with Yemeni culture, and especially not the immigration of Yemeni to Israel. I specifically enjoyed that Tsabari wrote about both the experiences in the refugee camp, as well as the experience of being a first generation Israeli born to immigrants. At the same time, a lovely story was woven of love, loss, and finding your identity. I really enjoyed this one, although I must admit that the chapters told from Zohara's perspective were more captivating to me. I liked that we only really learn about Saida through the eyes of others, as it felt like a realistic way to process her death. I didn't care much for Yomi's character or chapters, but I do think it is an interesting way to showcase how you can be drawn into something without necessarily understanding it.

A great book, looking forward to reading more from this author.

The year is 1950, and Jews from Yemen and other Middle Eastern countries are flocking to Israel to avoid the antisemitism and poverty in their native lands. One such Yemeni woman , Saida, is in a temporary Israeli camp to house the Mizrachi immigrants, when she, married mother of a young son, falls in love with a young man who had come from a nearby Yemeni town. Of course it is a forbidden love, and the two understand their situation from the beginning.

It was a time of great descrimination. Arabic Jews who were far less educated and darker than their Ashkenazi compatriots, were thought of as an underclass. Mizrachi (Yemeni) women were subservient to their husbands. Ayelet Tsaberi explores and explains the various dichotomies so deeply that the reader is thrust into that time and place. I was able to feel a part of Saida’s experiences, longings and confusion as she compared the life she had with the life she wanted, composing beautiful poetry to express the words she could not speak in her restrictive environment.

Years later, in New York, Saida’s youngest daughter, Zohara, receives word that her mother has died. Zohara returns to Israel, and her estranged family, and begins to discover everything she never knew about her mother’s life, and her own legacy.

I just loved this book. Having grown up in a city very close to a Sephardic Jewish community, I found that I knew very little of the history of these strong and resilient people. Tsaberi educated me with her words in a story both immersive and inspiring. It’s a saga filled with love, disappointment, survival, difficult mother daughter relationships and the secrets that parents withhold to protect their children. Five sparkling stars for a book I highly recommend. It was published in September so is available right now. My thanks to NetGalley and Random House for and advance reader’s copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

A wonderfully written tale about mothers, daughters and their relationships. We meet and get to know Saida(mother) and Zohara(daughter) and the paths they each traveled and made them who they became. Love, death, family, tragedy, grief, truth seeking, losing everything including your homeland, and delving into the middle east conflict and more. Written in a then and now timeline. A historical fictional story that is a must read for any and everyone, particularly in these times.

thank you to netgalley for the e-arc. great use of alternating POV and timelines, i thought it was done wonderfully and easy to follow. the education for the reader regarding Yemeni culture was a really cool part of the story and made you care.

A historical novel about Yemeni Jews arriving and living in Israel.

This story is about the arrival of Yemeni Jews to Israel in 1950. It is also about relationships in a family - mother/daughter, father/daughter and sister/sister. The youngest in this family does not seem to know anything about her family.

There is also a more current story (1995) about living in Israel and the safety issues. The historical issues were the most interesting, both 1950 and 1995. The pace of this book was slow. It took forever for the youngest in the family to figure out her mother and others in her family. She thought she knew them but she did not.

This is a book that I considered abandoning because of the slow start but I was glad I stuck with it. First of all, I really appreciated the amount of research that the author put into this story. I had not realized that there even are Yemeni Jews and they were (at least at one time), refugees in Gaza. I was having trouble figuring out how Yaqub’s story fit in and Zohara’s journey through grief seemed long and all over the place at first. But once Zohara began to uncover her mother’s secrets and to embrace her culture, I found the story to be heartwarming and much more interesting and Yaqub’s story brought things together nicely. That the Yemini women wrote and sang songs together to express themselves and support each other was inspiring. They developed an outlet and proved to be strong in a culture that saw them as dominated by men. Zohara was very independent but it was nice to see her get involved with the women once she had a better understanding of her mother. I also enjoyed the way the author incorporated the current events of the time in 1995 which is a reminder of the constant upheaval in this part of the world.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

This is a very thought provoking book. I was unaware of the existence of Yemini Jews. Nor was I aware of their immigration to Israel. Once again the distinction by skin color rears it's ugly head. It never ceases to amaze me that skin color plays out even within one cultural group. I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to a general audience.