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.

4-4.5 stars
Historical fiction about Yemeni Jews in Israel. There are two timelines, one following Saida in an immigrant camp in Israel 1950, the other following her daughter Zohara in Israel in 1995. I learned so much that I had been unaware of about these points in history: about Yemeni culture, the differing reactions of Israelis to the Oslo Accords, the children who disappeared from the immigrant camp, life in an immigrant camp, etc. And all tied up with complicated human relationships.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

DNF - Althought I was eager to read this book, it didn't end up working for me in the end. I'm sure there is an audience out there who will appreciate the story for all that it holds.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Do you know that feeling when you haven't started a book but can tell that it will be a great read? Songs for the Brokenhearted is certainly one of those books. It just took me some time to settle down and read it.

This book is a love story, a tale of mothers and daughters, of mothers and sons, and a search for finding oneself. The narrative is a dual timeline that takes readers from an immigrant camp in the 1950s to Israel in 1995. At first, it is unclear how the characters of the past match with the characters in the present storyline, but I was deeply invested in the narrative from page one.

I was not aware of the history of Yemen's Jewish population in Israel and the babies and toddlers that went missing in Israel during this period of history. Still, after finishing this book I spent several hours reading everything I could find about the subject on the internet. What I learned was it involves over 1,000 families — mostly immigrants from Yemen, but also dozens from the Balkans, North Africa, and other Middle Eastern countries — who have alleged their children were kidnapped from Israeli hospitals and put up for adoption, sometimes abroad, in Israel’s early years. Like the articles I found, time and time again in the novel, characters downplay that this ever occurred. Yet families are insistent that the state has been negligent in how they have handled their concerns.

The fictional character Saida's heartbreak over losing her son echoes the real-life families who are still looking for answers. I would also like to acknowledge that the author has two of her characters also discuss stories of families in Australia( Stolen Generation) and Canada( Sixties Scoop) who also saw their children disappear. In both mentioned nations, governments have in their recent history acknowledged that these were assimilation policies inflicted on their indigenous populations and some reports have referred to it as cultural genocide. Yet in Israel, the news articles I read hold much debate on this troubled part of history. Like Saida, some mothers still hold out hope that before they die the children taken from them- shall be returned.

In the 1995 storyline, the narrative centers on Zohara, Saida's youngest daughter, who returns from America to mourn her mother's death. Although she may come across as a character that is difficult to relate to, this is largely due to her struggle with her identity and the emotional baggage she brings back with her. She grapples with her understanding of her mother and her own sense of self. Alongside Zohara, we also follow her teenage nephew, Yoni, who feels lost after the death of his grandmother. He soon becomes involved in the political unrest surrounding Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

As Yoni is still young, I wonder if the author may bring him back in a future story.

A title I would recommend if you want a post-WWII story.



#SongsfortheBrokenhearted #NetGalley
Publication Date 10/09/24
Goodreads Review 02/11/24

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC: This is the first book of Tsabari that I've read and I'm so glad to have been introduced to her powerful writing. The novel explores Israel during 1995, primarily through the eyes of Zohara, a Yemeni Jew who has returned from New York after her mother's death. Zohara gradually learns about her mother, Saide, who immigrated from Yemen shortly after Israel was established and faced tremendous hardships as a migrant, a second wife, a mother whose child was stolen from her and a member of the Yemeni minority. The book is a coming of age, and exploration of Yemeni culture, and explores the resistance to the peace process initiated by Rabin. It is, unfortunately, still very timely. The book is well researched and beautifully written. It's a book to savor, discuss and appreciate.

"Songs for the Brokenhearted" by Ayelet Tsabari is an incredible book, and a very timely read given the current turmoil in Israel. It is not a light read, delving into subjects such as generational trauma, racism, and loss of a loved one.. The author does an admirable job portraying differing viewpoints with sensitivity and respect. Told through dual timelines and different points of view, the author skillfully weaves a beautiful tale of historical fiction and romance. The language is gorgeous and almost poetic at times. I loved the strength of the women characters and their perseverance through adversity. This is an emotional read, so be ready to shed a few tears.

Many thanks to NetGally, the publisher, and the author for the privilege of reading an advanced copy of this tremendous work of literary fiction. Five stars well earned!

When the State of Israel was created in 1948 and Jews from around the world flocked to its new hope, the country struggled to keep up with the influx of immigrants. Transit camps were erected but quickly became overcrowded and unsanitary. When Saida and her husband arrived from Yemen in 1950, they found themselves assigned to one of these camps, a place where many of their children were removed, never to be seen again. Saida’s son will be one of them.

The ancient heritage of North Africa and Arab Jews, or Mizrahis, predates Islam when Jewish communities settled in areas that would later become predominantly Muslim. But in their new and promising country, their Arabness was viewed as inferior, ignorant, and primitive. Saida’s daughter Zohara will later grow up ashamed of her heritage and her mother after she receives an elite education in a mainstream Israeli school. She moves to the United States through opportunities this education provides.

When Saida passes away, Zohara returns to Israel to help her sister sort through their mother’s home and personal belongings. Through this process, she will meet the woman her mother was and begin to reexamine her views of her heritage.

This well-written and moving story highlights the cultural divide between the Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews, an example of prejudice that is all too common in the world. The story of the missing Mizrahi children will eddy at the center of this novel as it ironically demonstrates the thoughtless cruelty one group will justify when seeing the other as inferior.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group—Random House and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

A heavy book, lots of grief and things to wade through. Good writing.
Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

Songs for the Brokenhearted (This review is taken from a NetGalley ARC)
by Ayelet Tsabari
The author has two storylines, the first of which is set in the overcrowded squalor of an immigrant camp in the early years of Israeli statehood. The beginning of a great but forbidden love between two young people
Yaqub, an orphan from North Yemen, comes across a girl his age and is immediately infatuated. Their poignant and intense attraction is just one of the many colorful threads forming this novel’s rich mosaic.
Set in the volatile summer of 1995, the second storyline is narrated by Zohara, who has been living in New York and struggling with a dissertation project she no longer finds inspiring.
While on vacation in Thailand, she learns of the sudden death of her mother in Israel. Returning to her mother’s house in a Yemini neighborhood in central Israel to mourn and clean, Zohara uncovers intriguing tapes of her mother’s singing as well as artifacts testifying to a startling secret. Gradually, Zohara gains a deeper appreciation of the complexity and quiet heroism of her mother’s life, and the beauty, joys, and sorrows of a culture she has often resisted. Yemeni women were taught to be quiet and they believed their stories had no value.
Zohara’s return also brings her closer to her sister Lizzie and her extended family, especially Yoni, a well-intentioned nephew who falls under the ominous influence of a far-right youth movement. Then there’s Nir, a Mizrahi grocery worker Zohara barely remembers from their school days, whom she gradually sees in a much different light.
The murder of Yitzhak Rabin is not the only traumatic episode in Israel’s history addressed in this emotionally intense novel; Tsabari also chronicles the still barely recognized kidnapping of Jewish Yemenite babies by the Ashkenazi establishment.

I love a good family saga, especially if it involves someone uncovering a secret past that forces them to reassess everything they thought they knew.

Zohara's mother has died, and she is returning home to Israel to mourn. But cleaning her home, she uncovers some hidden letters and a story that causes her to realize she never really knew her mother.

This is a story about love, family, and the effects of assimilation. I have never read anything from a Mizrahi perspective, and it was very enlightening. I love a story with multiple timelines, so I thought the back-and-forth between 1950 and 1995 was very well done. I might have liked a bit more of the 1950 plot, but I still really liked what I did get. I also loved the emphasis on songs and singing. Now, I want to listen to traditional Yemeni music and read some poetry.

I thought this was a well-done generational story, and I found the perspective of Yemeni Jews on what it was/is like for them to live in Israel very interesting. I think we Ashkenazi Jews like to envision Israel being a sort of Jewish utopia where everyone gets along, and we are all equal. I think stories like this one are so important to read.