Overview

Drawing on cultural and oral history, Nejmeh Khalil Habib's collection of five powerful short stories delves into the lives of ordinary Palestinians trying to find their way through relentless circumstances. Introducing us to characters loosely interconnected by time and place, the stories begin in 1975 with a family living in the Dbayeh refugee camp and end with the Israeli siege of West Beirut in 1982. From Mariam, a mother devoted to her only child, to Nu'man, the soon-to-be-martyred young man who is ashamed of unwanted thoughts that mar his heroism, to Randa, the revolutionary, who is torn between glorifying her father's sacrifices and denouncing them, to Amer who is spread thin between his familial obligations and aspirations, Habib accompanies each of her characters nimbly in language at times simple and embedded in popular vernacular, at others lyrical and poetic. Marked by a storytelling style that is concise yet unconfined, Habib's mastery of craft allows her to dive boldly into her characters' depths and say what has not been said, revealing their hidden worlds with illuminating transparency that honours their unrequited longings for spring.

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9781623716639

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Reviews

""...a distinct and smooth narrative style.""--Hassan Ghanam ""[A] collection of stories whose protagonists are fictionalized versions of real people, perhaps the most prominent of which is the child Rabih [which means 'Spring' in English], who was killed along with his family on August 6 [1982] as a result of the vacuum bomb dropped by Israeli planes on the Aker apartment building. The building was inhabited by many Palestinian families displaced from the Dbayeh refugee camp. Hence the name of the novel A Spring that Did Not Blossom, is in memory of Rabih, the child who died before he had a chance to bloom.""--SBS Arabic ""[A] skilful documentation of an era in Palestinian resistance and perseverance.""--George Hashem ""A book that deserves to be known and read worldwide.""--Nouha Francis ""Nejmeh Khalil Habib is a literary critic of high caliber, whose moral fiber coincides with her being a pioneer in human rights, justice, and freedom.""--Izzat Abdulhadi ""Reminiscent of the telegraphic style of Ghassan Kanafani ... brevity generates a sense of hurriedness ... a beautifully crafted work of art, which also stands as an artefact of substantial historical and cultural value.""--Samar Habib ""Skillfully and intelligently, this book memorializes the forgotten victims and martyrs of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, from forty years ago. It conveys the event to us quietly, without noise, chatter, slogans, glorifications or calls for revenge. We do not find in it the resonant speeches, the rhetorical constructions, or even the false linguistic metaphors that undertake elaborate explanations which distance us from the tragic truth it all leads to--the path to massacre.""--Aqeel Manqoush ""The book is a testimony to the suffering of the Palestinian people in Lebanon at the beginning of the civil war and up to the Israeli invasion. It brings back to memory scenes of the pervasive massacres of refugees in Palestinian camps, including the events of the camps of Dbayeh, Sabra and Shatila, and the siege of the capital, Beirut.""--Al-Quds al-Arabi

Author Information

Dr. Nejmeh Khalil Habib is an award-winning Palestinian writer and lecturer in Arabic language and literature at the University of Sydney. She is the author of three collections of short stories, five academic works, and numerous articles. She is the recipient of the Australia Council for the Arts Award (2004), the Gibran Kahlil Gibran International Literary Award (2006), the Union of Palestinian Workers Award for Excellence (2013), and the Australian Arabic Culture Center Award for Creative Writing (2014). A Spring that Did Not Blossom is her first collection to be translated into English.

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