A Country Between

“This fascinating book captures the reality of living in colliding worlds…Saldana’s observations about the realities of marriage, motherhood, and aging…offer the sense of having had a uplifting conversation with a thoughtful soul. Rather than attempting to answer political questions about the region, Saldana shares a curious kind of hope by showing how life goes on no matter the circumstances… readers gain a deeper understanding of love and faith.” - Booklist, STARRED review

"Saldaña builds an impressive sense of genuine emotion, and she vividly explores the array of life in that seething section of Jerusalem...a serene memoir in which the author takes valuable time to regard the character of the Palestinian people and their way of life." - Kirkus, STARRED review

“If an angel were to write a book, this would be it. Stephanie Saldana’s memoir of her years as a young bride and new mother on Jerusalem’s Nablus Road is infused with grace, rich in wisdom. With her French husband, a former novice monk, she makes a home on one of the fault lines where the lives of Israelis and Palestinians, Jews, Muslims and Christians sometimes mesh, but often collide. A Country Between reminds us that grief is as indispensable to joy as light is to shadow. Beautifully written, ardent and wise.”—Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Secret Chord, People of the Book, and March

“A book you can’t put down. This is a gift of sweetness and light in a troubled time.” —Julia Alvarez, bestselling author of In the Time of Butterflies and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

"Stephanie Saldana's astonishing gifts of perception and potent description make A Country Between feel like the country we would all prefer to live in. These elegant pages, replete with mystery, surprise, secret messages tucked inside every day, and the tender love of parents for one another and for the precious children they nurture and educate in Jerusalem, a most difficult, crucially beloved city, make us homesick for something better." -Naomi Shihab Nye, author of Habibi

"This candid, tenderly rendered love story begins in a Syrian monastery, where Saldaña (Bread of Angels), a Texas-born journalist, falls for Frédéric, a French novice monk...Saldaña describes in wonderful detail how, as their family expands, they stay in a place where so little makes sense, guided solely by their hope in the future." - Publishers Weekly