Why read Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies?

Book cover of Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies

Book description

Tender yet brutal vignettes on a girlhood in Gaza, Palestine, filled with honey and warmth.

Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies is written for those who had to leave—collected remembrances of a childhood in Gaza by a woman far from Palestine’s sun and sea. Overindulgent, chaotic and sentimental, Heba Hayek’s narrator struggles…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Selma Dabbagh

Author

This is a slim volume that is playful, sweet, and natural in tone, although the setting, Gaza, is never associated with the playful, the sweet, and the whole regime that governs it is as far from being natural as is feasibly possible.

I had not read a voice like Heba’s before, warm yet wise beyond her years and full of humor, intelligence, and originality. There is an excellent playlist that ranges from Nina Simone to Mashrou’ Leila, which covers aspects of her life, from fluffy slippers to political debates to the love of family and women. ‘Late capitalism is the…

From Selma's list on being Palestinian.