This is a marvelous book carefully constructed in layers. The author's mother was a Palestinian Christian, and during the 1948 Palestinian-Israeli War was forced to flee her homeland. The author grew up in Alexandria, Egypt, listening to her mother's memories (fond and tragic) of her life in Palestine, eating her mother's wonderful food, and learning about Palestinian culture and history. Ms. Halaby became an author, a specialist in Palestine affairs, and an educator in the field of conflict resolution. She was hired to teach the latter subject in Ramallah, an occupied town in Palestine where she lived among her students and was able to connect firsthand with her mother's stories. This book is like a dual biography - of the author and of her mother. The mother's letters convey such an intimate sense of her life that the reader can feel the pain, anger, and grief that she felt about being forced to leave her native country. This layer meshes meaningfully with the author's real-time experiences in Ramallah. The reader of this book will be well-rewarded with a deeply emotional experience and a sense of what it means to be Palestinian.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the opportunity to listen to, and review an ARC of In my Mother's Footsteps, written by Mona Hajjar Halaby and narrated by Lameece Issaq.

Halaby's mother had to leave her home in Palestine in 1948 during the Arab-Israeli war, firstly living in Egypt and then in Geneva, Switzerland. Halaby herself, then met her husband-to-be in Geneva and they moved to California where they made their life. As their children left home and were leading their own lives, Mona jumped at an opportunity to spend a year in Ramallah, Palestine, teaching Conflict Resolution in a local school. Throughout her time there, Mona kept a journal of her day-to-day life, her integration with the children and her travels through her mother's homeland, visiting places that her mother was telling her about in her regular letters to her daughter. As the months go on, Mona's mother and father make the long journey from Geneva to visit her in Ramallah and undertake a journey of their own.

I have no knowledge or understanding of any of the issues in Israel or Palestine and whilst I appreciate this is only one person's story, it has made me keen to discover more. Many of the stories of Mona's mother's early life was thought-provoking and at times. heart-breaking and does make you wonder what sort of a world we live in.

The author gave us such vivid descriptions of the places she visited throughout her year in Ramallah that it was easy to visualise in your mind as she travelled throughout the country. Using her mother's letters in the book also brought the stories to life and it did make me feel sadness and despair at the things her mother experienced during her life.

Lameece Issaq as the narrator did the story justice and I forgot at times that it wasn't the author speaking. She brought feelings and emotion into an already emotive subject.

I would recommend this story to anyone who has an interest in the Middle East and the history involved and although only a singular viewpoint it did tug at the heartstrings.

A coin has two sides.

This audiobook addresses the Palestinian side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has afflicted the peoples of that region since 1948, until today. The true story of a Catholic Palestinian refugee woman and her displaced journey which, for her, turned out better than for most refugees.

Her daughter, Mona, the author, retraces her Mother's wanderings, and goes back to Palestine, even staying there at one point for the better part of a year. She endured check points and curfews, and other injustices but those were muted compared to her Palestinian counterparts due to her American passport. Here she taught traumatized Palestinian school children who had witnessed violence since they'd been knee-high to grasshoppers. She had come to help mitigate some of that by teaching more peaceful ways to resolve conflicts even among their childish selves.

How much was suffered and lost by the Palestinians? How much fear can a person live with? How much violence is still perpetuated? Yet there is resilience in those people which shines out in community.

The script is rather intense. It's controversial and you may go spinning into spirals of emotional convolutions. Take your time to listen. Feel the pathos.

Readjust your perceptions and say, as author Mona herself shared from her school-going days, and repeat, "I am a human being." Change it slightly to, "We are human beings" whether Israeli, Palestinian, or from wherever; one is still a human being and therefore to be respected. Have compassion. This must NOT be ignored.

~Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~

July 2021

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the review copy given from the publisher.

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I did enjoy listening to this book and learnt a great deal about the difficulties faced by Palestinians, which was one of my reasons for requesting it. This book is a good mix of history and personal experience. The narration was calm and measured.

My impression of Palestine and its citizens is that they seem to exist in a warm, welcoming, friendly community. When Halaby lives there for a year she seems to have easily fitted into their way of life and there is a deep sense of nostalgia for a life which was lived by her mother. The effects of the enforced occupation and ongoing conflict were disturbing and I think this books is important in raising awareness from the inside of the reality of what the last 5 years or so has done to this region and its citizens.

The narrative in interwoven with wonderful letters from Mona's mother which help flesh out the life that this family has had to date.

It is a wonderful read, but is quite political at times which comes across as slightly forced. Obviously, Halaby feels that the occupation is unfair and I recognise why, but as I reached the end of the book I was struck by the constant criticism of the Israelis, even when they are offering her hospitality in their homes she dwells on the fact that their homes are 'stolen' - which, of course, they were initially, but not directly by that occupant. It was uncomfortable to read about her accepting meals and making visits while constantly questioning (internally) their right to be there. When Halaby visit newspaper archives for her research, she has to mention how measured her journalist grandfather was compared to others at the time; this may be true, but I couldn't help but question how balanced her judgement really was given the circumstances.

Listening to an extract of this audiobook I knew immediately that I wanted to listen to this story…to understand.
Mona’s Mother was forced out of her home in Palestine in 1948. She took one small suitcase. Her family fled first to Egypt then to Geneva. As a child Mona listens to her Mother’s stories of her childhood in Palestine. In 2007 Mona took a one year teaching job in Ramallah to teach non violent communication in a school. She kept a journal of her experiences in a militarised occupied town. This book brings together both stories.
I don’t know how to do justice to this amazing book. It is everything - a personal and familial history, something of a travelogue as Mona describes people, objects, buildings, experiences in incredible detail as she travels around the places of her Mother’s childhood; a personal witness to events in history. And it is an account of what it is like to live in these occupied areas. We have all seen the terrible news headlines recently, but reading this promoted a deeper level of understanding as through Mona’s eyes we witness the hardships and difficulties of occupation- soldiers climbing on the school bus, restrictions, paperwork, checkpoints, concrete walls, illegal settlements. It is a shock to her, it was a shock to me.
So many moments overwhelm you with sadness and frustration…But there are also some beautiful scenes of friendship, family, meals, wisdom, love. I loved the descriptions of incredible salads, herbs, plants…shared meals, shared friendships and the stories.
I listened to this on audiobook and it really added to the experience, with the narrator translating Arabic words to illuminate particular descriptions and conversations. The love between Mona and her Mum suffuses this story. When Mona’s Mother visits her, I held my breath. 59 years away from her homeland..how would she feel, what could it possibly be like? And as Mona and her Mum stand in the garden of her old home I wept.
Mona writes of her book, ‘I hope it will resonate with you, warm your heart, and enlighten you about every day life in Palestine’ This book did all those things and more.
With thanks to Netgalley, Bookoutre Audio and Thread Books for a digital copy of this very special audiobook.

Beautifully narrated by Lameece Issaq, Mona Hajjar Halaby’s memoir, IN MY MOTHER’S FOOTSTEPS, offers a heartfelt account of Halaby’s feelings about her mother’s homeland, Palestine, a place her mother left during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, not by choice. It offers a compassionate perspective of displacement, not only of Halaby's mother but also other Palestinians. This thoughtful rendering shows the struggle of the Palestinian people, the impact of present, and unbearable, living conditions on those still in the region, and a sad history of some of the most damaging policies both historically and presently. For those of us who wish to hear different accounts of the history of the region and the impact of its conflicts on Palestinians since the 1948 war, the memoir proves a rare gem.

Halaby’s academic and professional background as a teacher of non-violent conflict resolution, and her rendering of her family’s history, including its displacement, make her uniquely situated to offer insights into the continuing struggle of the Palestinian people. Her storytelling is full of delicious details of the beauty and richness of the place, as well as the warmth and love of the people she meets during her year in Ramallah, where she has taken a temporary teaching post.

The history of the area is not given in the book and Halaby’s perspective is a singular one, not intended to be a complete history, so it’s worth reading around the subject. My own understanding is that long before 1948, two groups of people claimed the same land. Toward the twentieth century, the Palestinians were developing a sense of cultural identity and nationality that they felt should include a nation state. Meanwhile, Jews from within the same area as well as from all over the world, were understanding Judaism as not only a religion but a nationality that required a nation-state, too. Halaby states that Muslims, as well as Christians, lived peacefully alongside each other in the region in the early twentieth century. Her mother describes playing on sports teams full of children of different religions.

However, the British Mandate was the undoing of the area, and the memoir touches upon this. My own understanding is that the British began limiting the numbers of Jews moving to the area and that the Jews fought both British rule as well as Arabs for their rights to live in the land, especially as persecution elsewhere in the world put pressure on Jewish people. From what I understand, it was the dividing of Palestine into two states after WWII that is at the heart of the conflict. At that time, Jews agreed to the division as set down by the British, but Arabs did not, which led to the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. The Israelis won the war but pushed past the boundaries set out by the British, and displaced Palestinian people from their homes, creating a huge refugee population that included Halaby’s family of origin. She writes about this displacement, its memory in her heart and in her mother’s accounts of her history.

After the failed uprising against the Jews, Israel acquired far more land both from what had been agreed in 1948, and also land that had belonged to Egypt and Syria. The 1978 agreement returned the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt, but Israel didn’t return the land that had been offered to the Palestinians in 1948. None of this is in the book, nor is the memoir obligated to include it, but I put it here for a little background. What also isn’t discussed, is that the Palestinian Liberation Organization claimed all the land belonged to Palestine and wanted to end the state of Israel. Bombings and attacks have come from both sides, but understandably you (understandably) get a more Palestinian point of view in this memoir.

Halaby describes the problems resulting Israelis settling ever more on the territories that had been understood as belonging to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. These settlers were (and are) understood by some as entirely illegal, but the Israeli government doesn’t see it that way. The conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians showed some hope of resolving with the Oslo Accords of 1993, which gave Palestinians some freedom to govern themselves, but the increasing violence from far-right military extremists like Hamas, and the resulting extremists on the Israeli side, meant that each group seems to be seeking the destruction of the other. The result is that the daily lives of Palestinian people are increasingly difficult, and this is what Halaby talks about so well, and the sense of loss is fully felt, especially during the section of the work that describes her mother’s return to Jerusalem. Sadly, her mother’s description of the peace between groups when she was a child seems impossible now.

I adored this book. I loved the letters that Mona's mother, Zakia, wrote to her and getting to follow along Mona's journey - experiencing her mother's homeland was just so special. Getting to to read along while Mona found her mother's childhood home, seeing the orange tree that she planted, and walk down the very same roads, was just such a beautiful. It also was really interesting to hear about the Israel/Palestine conflict from the mouth of someone who was directly effected. Overall, this was a very touching one to read and I would absolutely recommend.

Very interesting read/listen. I'll admit I don't know enough about this area of the world. I enjoyed learning about the history as well as the author's own experiences visiting and working in her mother's homeland.

Thank you to Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Mona Hajjar Halaby's mother grew up in Palestine, until her family was forced out in 1948. Now, Mona is returning to Palestine for a year to teach conflict resolution in a school in Ramallah. She keeps a diary of her time there, both her time spent working with the children at her school and in tracing her family's past in the country. Interspersed with Mona's story, she includes letters her mother wrote her during that year, recounting her childhood in Palestine.

I absolutely loved this memoir. The plight of the Palestinian people is horrifying, and the author did an excellent job laying it out for those not familiar with the situation. It was fascinating to learn about her work with the children at the elementary school in Palestine and the way she was able to connect the way they reacted to conflict with the events happening in their country as they were growing up. The book was beautifully written, and Lameece Issaq did a marvelous job with the narration. This book is a must read!

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

What a book. I enjoy reading memoir and biographies but this was the first time listening to one. Lameece Issaq is an amazing narrator and suited the writing very well. The story is interesting, engaging and emotionally charged - a perfect mix for a good read. I have learned a lot about Palestine and had never heard the term Nakba before. As a social historian this book was just perfect for me. My only beef is that I had to listen at normal speed as anything faster on this advanced audio copy sounded like it was spoken through bubbles. I expect that the final, retail version will have sorted this out. Also the index was in a bizzare order, but luckily the audio was n the correct order. With thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for netgalley for a review copy of the book for an honest review

“In My Mother’s Footsteps” is an honest account of the year Mona Hajjar Halaby spent in Ramallah, teaching at the Ramallah Friends School.
The descriptions of places and people make it feel as if you are there and is one of my favourite books of the year

“In My Mother’s Footsteps” is on one hand an account of the year Mona Hajjar Halaby spent teaching in Ramallah, Palestine and on the other an exploration of her own cultural heritage – she has family connections to Palestine, Syria and Egypt but also latterly to Switzerland and the USA.
As the author herself says, “Identity is where your heart lies” and her heart has always been in her mother’s homeland of Palestine, so when she was offered the opportunity to live there for a year, teaching at the Ramallah Friends School, Mona could not refuse. She left her husband & sons in the USA and set off on a journey of personal and professional discovery.
The book couples anecdotes from the classroom with the realities of living in such a scarred and militarized place as Palestine. Mona also includes her quest to find her mother’s home in Jerusalem and to visit some of the places that she had only heard about from her mother’s memories. The inclusion of letters from Mona’s mother, each giving a new glimpse into her childhood in pre-1948 Palestine, gave a whole new dimension to the book. It truly becomes "a memoir in two voices" and the historical context really helps the reader to understand the context more. It was special to realise that Mona eventually took her elderly mother back to Palestine after 59 years in exile – Mona had always assumed her mother would be guiding her through Jerusalem, showing her the ancient Old City and the local neighbourhood, but it was Mona who held her mother’s hand and took her to see these places, having discovered them when she was working there.

Mona was employed to teach conflict resolution, which seems like a very bizarre subject and yet the more she explains it, the more powerful it becomes. It’s sort of a cross between a behaviour mentor & a citizenship/social sciences/humanities teacher and she helps the children to find non-violent ways of resolving their problems. Her insights into why the children behave as they do are astonishing and yet equally many of them could only have been determined by an “outsider”

I found “In My Mother’s Footsteps” powerful and engrossing, personal yet historical. I found myself looking up a map of Palestine several times to understand the logistics, where exactly was being referred to. I thought I knew something of the history of Palestine but I learnt so much. Yes we only see “one side” but this is a Palestinian writing about Palestine from the inside, yet with the additional perspective of someone who lives in the USA – and that cannot be ignored. The State of Palestine has now been recognized by 138 of the 193 UN members and since 2012 has had a status of a non-member observer state in the United Nations – hopefully one day soon a resolution can be reached that will allow the Palestinian people to reclaim their ancient lands and live harmoniously with their neighbours, Israel.

Overall, I cannot give this book less than 5 stars – it’s a powerful read that will stay with you long after reading/listening to it. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator is perfect for the book, she fitted the role so well that I forgot that it was not the author speaking! The inclusion of the author’s own message/voice was lovely, as were the inclusions of some phrases in different languages. They fitted seamlessly and actually added to the authenticity of the book.

#netgalley #inmymothersfootsteps @bookouture

(Also published on Goodreads & my blog: https://bookwormescapes.blogspot.com)

“In My Mother’s Footsteps” is an account of the year Mona Hajjar Halaby spent in Ramallah, teaching at the Ramallah Friends School. It includes anecdotes from the classroom, encounters with Palestinians and Israelis with different perspectives on the situation in the Middle East, family visits, and political activism. It is interspersed with letters from Mona’s mother, describing her childhood in pre-1948 Palestine.

The purpose of Mona’s assignment is to teach conflict resolution to pre-teen children. The conflicts they are experiencing are those common to children everywhere - misunderstandings, prejudice, bullying. The hope is that by teaching non-violent ways of exploring the seeds of these issues and finding commonalities through peaceful and empathetic communication, these children can grow into leaders who will use the same tools to help build a peaceful future for the region.

As Mona experiences life in the occupied territories, her own frustrations are apparent, and grow. There is internal conflict, as her instincts for peace and compassion clash with the pain of seeing her people’s homeland usurped and her people downtrodden. She finds connections and support, sometimes in unexpected places, to peacefully protest against injustices.

Along with her work and her political activism, Mona spends time exploring her family history, tracing her mother’s home, and sharing memories when her mother visits. She has always identified as a Palestinian, and this has has always been her home, but her love for, and bond to, this country clearly grow stronger throughout her time there.

Weaving through the present-day experience of life under occupation, and through Mona’s family history, is the larger scale story of the Middle East. From the Ottoman Empire, through the Balfour Declaration and British Mandate, to the establishment of the State of Israel and subsequent Arab-Israeli wars, tragic mistakes, broken promises and acts of political expediency are chronicled.

I found “In My Mother’s Footsteps” powerful and engrossing. The way family and national history intertwined brought both aspects to life in a very comprehensible way. I feel like I understand the region far better after reading this book. Of course a one-sided perspective is being presented, but the author’s compassion and self-awareness shine through, so I believe the account is also a fair and realistic one, accurately describing the experience of today’s Palestinians.

As a Quaker, it was a delight to be introduced to the Ramallah Friends School, and to hear Mona’s very positive experiences of Quakerism, which felt very close to my own, despite the huge cultural differences between my own West Midlands and the West Bank.

As I previewed the audiobook, I have just one small gripe, which is that the narrator, Lameece Issaq, occasionally gave confusing inflections to sentences, as if she was reading them for the first time. For the most part though the narration was excellent, very clear. The audio is book-ended with short passages read by the author - another delight.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a picture of life in Palestine in the early 21st Century, and some background of how it has become so. There’s a great sadness in being reminded of how war, occupation, hatred and fear create ongoing tragedy in the lives of regular people. But there is hope too. There are people on both sides of the political/religious/societal divide who are working towards peace and reconciliation. Some of Mona’s students may soon be joining them in finding creative and compassionate answers to one of the world’s most intractable problems.

I would also recommend this as an autobiography. In many ways it is a small story, being played out on a huge stage. It’s a story that inspires me because it shows the difference any one of us could make if we commit to living out our values. While the difference made by one of us is small, together we might actually start to change the world.

Thank you netgalley for letting me listen to Mona’s story. I love reading and I don’t normally listen to audiobooks but the story is so well read that I may listen to more books. From a historical point of view, I learnt so much about the history of Palestine. It also gives the reader a real insight into what it must be like to be a refugee. Yes, Mona and her family were lucky with their contacts but nevertheless, they are Palestinians who were forced out of their home. The descriptions are wonderful. You can smell the scents and hear the noises. I was also interested in Mona’s views on education while she was teaching children in a war zone. She had such insight. Mona’s story makes you even more sympathetic to people making perilous journeys every day to escape from similar war zones often with nowhere to go. It is a positive memoir but I often found myself welling up. Highly recommended.

I find that I give this book 5 stars. I took some time to really make sure that I wanted to do this, since it is not a rating I give easily. But I did enjoy listening (audiobook) to all the stories this refugee had of her life and of also her relationship with her mother. Most interesting is the way she would work hard to establish trust and report with her students. I am sure that Mona Hajjar Halaby would be a very interesting person to sit next to at a dinner party! Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced audio copy!
#netgalley
#inmymothersfootsteps

Story seems good but I just couldn't handle the narrator. Sounded like AI - no change in emotion. I got about 10 minutes in and had to quit.

Mona Hajjar Halaby comes from a rich cultural heritage, having connections to Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Switzerland and the US by virtue of birth or residence. But the closest to her heart is her native land, the place not counted as a country, a land torn by strife to this day: Palestine. As the author herself says, “Identity is where your heart lies.”

Halaby’s mother had to leave Palestine as a young girl during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. But her heart was left in her land of her origin and she brought up Halaby to love and respect her Palestinian compatriots. So when Halaby received an offer to teach conflict resolution in a school in Ramallah (near Jerusalem) for a year, she grabbed the opportunity eagerly. Halaby maintained a journal of her time in Ramallah, where she wrote her thoughts about her motherland, a land she had hitherto known only through her mother’s memories. This book contains four elements (though all are interspersed with each other and not written in a compartmentalised way.)
1. Halaby’s thoughts on the struggle of the Palestinian people and her experience of living in Palestine for a year.
2. The background and repercussions of the Arab-Israeli war, especially on children. As the author is a conflict resolution specialist, her interactions with the Palestinian school children make for introspective reading.
3. Letters written by Halaby’s mother to her, detailing the nostalgic memories from her own childhood in Palestine.
4. Details of a trip where Halaby took her 84 year old mother back to Palestine after 59 years abroad. This includes her struggles to locate her mother’s childhood home, especially as there were no street or locality names at that time. I loved this entire segment!

Each of these elements is written beautifully. As in any memoir, Halaby’s personal thoughts dominate the narrative. But the content is so hard-hitting that you forgive and forget the regular appearance of her wonderings and musings.

I loved the author’s decision to include her mother’s letters in the book. As she says, it makes for "a memoir in two voices", and I completely agree. The historical background that these letters provide greatly enhances the reading experience.

I heard the audiobook narrated by Lameece Issaq, and I must say, I was very impressed at her reading. Though the book contained lines in many languages, she went through them effortlessly. The 9 hours long audiobook breezed by because of her voice.

If you wish to have a clear idea of what’s happening in Palestine and how and why it all began, this would be a great book to begin with. After all, what can be more authentic than a voice of Palestine speaking from Palestine?

Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture Audio, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.