Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
"Behind every dark moment, there is another hidden world. The trick is to hold out long enough to make it there."
When American writer Stephanie Saldana finds herself in an empty house at the beginning of Nablus Road, the dividing line between East and West Jerusalem, she is a new wife trying to navigate a fragile terrain, both within her marriage and throughout the country in which she has chosen to live.
Pregnant with her first child, Stephanie struggles to protect her family, their faith, and herself from the cracks of Middle Eastern conflict that threaten to shatter the world around her. But as her due date approaches, she must reconcile herself with her choice to bring a child into a dangerous world. Determined to piece together life from the brokenness, she sets out to uncover small instances of beauty to balance the delicate coexistence between love, motherhood, and a country so often at war.
In an urban valley in Jerusalem, A Country Between captures the fragile ecosystem of the Middle East and the difficult first years of motherhood in the midst of a conflict-torn city. What unfolds is a celebration of faith, language, family, and love that fills the space between what was shattered, leaving us whole once more.
Synopsis
"A Country Between reminds us that grief is as indispensable to joy as light is to shadow. Beautifully written, ardent and wise." -- Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Secret Chord, People of the Book, and March
A couple meet at a remote Syrian monastery and fall in love. She is American, he is French. They marry and decide to make their home in Jerusalem. They are devout Catholics and live on Nablus Road, where the Israeli and Palestinian sides of the city collide. Pregnant with her first child, Stephanie Saldana struggles to protect her family, their faith, and herself from the upheaval that threatens to shatter the world around her. But as her due date approaches, she must reconcile herself with her choice to bring a child into a dangerous world. Her new memoir is a testament to finding hope, love and peace amid the contentious conflict in the Middle East.
"Thoughtful, candid and achingly lovely, A Country Between celebrates the moments of beauty and truth that appear even--or especially--in broken and hard places, bringing light and healing in unexpected ways."; -- Shelf Awareness for Readers, STARRED review
"Saldana shares a curious kind of hope by showing how life goes on no matter the circumstances... readers gain a deeper understanding of love and faith." -- Booklist, STARRED review