Ghosts of Jerusalem

Author's name: Wasini Al-Araj Publisher: Dar Al-Adab for Publishing and Distribution Year of publication: 2008 Literary classification: Novel Brief about the book: Mie Finaya, a Palestinian, left her homeland in 1948 at the age of eight, in a harsh circumstance, under a false name and a forged identity, heading towards the free world in search of a land more merciful and loving. In New York, she imposes herself as an American high-style visual artist. When lung cancer surprises her, her original soil and hidden ghosts awaken within her, and she wishes to return to Jerusalem, the color of her stolen childhood, to die there. But, can we return to the same land after half a century of absence? What does it mean to return when the Palestinian spends his whole life spinning outside the system of galaxies? "Today, many things have changed, the world itself has become something else, after all pains have calmed, some wounds have healed, and I forgot the terrifying cry of Bousi that accompanied me for a long time in my dreams and nightmares. I ended up recording my grief as I wished. I no longer see anything but her, in her peak brilliance, just like in her early years of blooming. Whenever I close my tired eyes from the hardship of music and constant work, I see Mie rise from her ashes like a phoenix, transforming into endless butterflies, tracing countless circles on their wings, with colors tasting of orange and almonds. Whenever night falls, the orphan city of God lights up, Jerusalem, retreating into its solitude and the tyranny of the silence of its recurring death."