We’ re delighted to announce that at Pontas we have started working for American author Michelle Cohen Corasanti and her debut novel The Almond Tree. The English language edition was published in the US and UK by Garnet Publishers in October 2012 and so far has been enjoying very good sales.
Together with the international success Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa (translated into 23 languages!) it confirms that there is a growing interest in Palestine an in novels dealing with Palestine. Above all, though, it is a wonderful novel, one that has moved readers to tears and that has received a huge amount of praise for both its cultural, social and political insight and its narrative strength.
About the book: Set in Palestine and the US between 1955 and 2009. The book is broken up into four parts that take place over different periods of a young Palestinian boy from ages 12 to 60. Gifted with a mind that continues to impress the elders in his village, Ichmad Hamid struggles with the knowledge that he can do nothing to save his Palestinian friends and family. Ruled by the Israeli military government, the entire village operates in fear of losing homes, jobs and belongings. But more importantly, they fear losing each other. On Ichmad's 12th birthday, that fear becomes a reality. With his father imprisoned, his family's home and possessions confiscated, and his siblings quickly succumbing to the dangers of war, Ichmad begins the endless struggle to use his intellect to save his poor and dying family and reclaim a love for others that was lost when the bombs first hit.
About the author: Michelle Cohen Corasanti has a BA from Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a MA from Harvard University, both in Middle Eastern Studies. She also holds a Law degree. A Jewish American, she lives in the US with her husband and two children. She says that Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runnerinspired her to write The Almond Tree, her first novel.