Tuesday, December 12, 4:00 PM EDT - in person at the Fares Center 160 Packard Ave, Medford, MA

Mother of Strangers: Memoirs of Jaffa, a vanquished city with Suad Amiry

Please join the Fares Center for a talk and Q&A with acclaimed novelist Suad Amiry, author of six works of nonfiction, including Sharon and My Mother-in-Law, which was awarded the Viareggio-Versilia International Prize in 2004, and Golda Slept Here, which was awarded the Nonino Risit d’Aur Prize in 2014.

Suad will be discussing her latest book, 'Mother of Strangers.' Based on the true story of two Jaffa teenagers, Mother of Strangers follows the daily lives of Subhi, a fifteen-year-old mechanic, and Shams, the thirteen-year-old student he hopes to marry one day.

With a thriving orange export business, Jaffa had always been a city welcoming to outsiders—the “Mother of Strangers”—where Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived peacefully together. Once the bombardment of the city begins in April 1948, Jaffa becomes unrecognizable, with neighborhoods flattened, families removed from their homes and separated, and those who remain in constant danger of arrest and incarceration. Most of the popula­tion flees eastward to Jordan or by sea to Lebanon in the north or to Egypt and Gaza in the south. Subhi and Shams will never see each other again.

Snacks and refreshments will be served.

RSVP here: Mother of Strangers: Memoirs of Jaffa, a vanquished city with Suad Amiry (google.com)