It is 1947, and Beit Daras, a quiet village in rural Palestine, surrounded by olive groves, is home to the Baraka family. Eldest daughter Nazmiyeh looks after her widowed mother, who is prone to wandering and strange outbursts, while her brother Mamdouh tends to the village bees. Their beautiful younger sister, Marian, with her striking mismatched eyes, spends her days talking to imaginary friends, and writing.
When Israeli forces gather outside the town's borders, nobody suspects the terror that is about to descend. Soon the village is burning, and amidst smoke and ash, the family set out on the long road to Gaza, in a walk that will test them to their limits, with consequences that will echo throughout generations.
Spanning decades and continents, The Blue Between Sky and Water is a story of strong women and lost men - of relocation, separation and heartache - but also of renewal and endurance, and of hope in the most hopeless of situations. Susan Abulhawa brings a raw humanity and delicate authority to the story of Palestine, in this devastatingly beautiful tale of a family's survival.
