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Behind You Is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj

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Behind You Is the Sea

A Novel

by Susan Muaddi Darraj

Length 6 hours 30 minutes

Language English

Narrators Rasha Zamamiri & Ali Nasser

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Bookseller recommendation

“Each chapter is like opening a new door. Each of the stories is connected, but you experience them individually. As you go further along in the book, it carries on in the timeline, and you see the characters change and read about what happens to the characters over the years. Being Palestinian and Palestinian-American, each chapter addresses the many different real emotions they each have with their own identity and what it means to them. ”
— Rachel • Dog-Eared Books

Bookseller recommendation

“In these linked stories, three Palestinian interconnected families in Baltimore, caught between the values of their homeland while struggling to make sense of their American children, come to life. It’s a portrait of how class, gender, generations and traditional values both divide and unite them, with a different family in focus in each chapter. Moving and unforgettable. ”
— Anne • Newtonville Books

Summary
About the author

“Behind You Is the Sea fearlessly confronts stereotypes about Palestinian culture, weaving a remarkable portrait of life's intricate moments, from joyous weddings to heart-wrenching funerals, from shattered hearts to hidden truths—I wept and grew alongside this family. This is a story that challenges perceptions, offering a heartfelt glimpse into the interior lives of those who call this community home. A must read novel with unforgettable characters and an unwavering, fresh voice—I couldn’t put it down until the very last page! Darraj delivers an instant, necessary, and authentic classic to the cannon of Arab-American literature.”—Etaf Rum, author of Evil Eye and A Woman Is No Man

An exciting debut novel that gives voice to the diverse residents of a Palestinian American community in Baltimore—from young activists in conflict with their traditional parents to the poor who clean for the rich—lives which intersect across divides of class, generation, and religion.

Funny and touching, Behind You Is the Sea brings us into the homes and lives of three main families—the Baladis, the Salamehs, and the Ammars—Palestinian immigrants who’ve all found a different welcome in America.

Their various fates and struggles cause their community dynamic to sizzle and sometimes explode: The wealthy Ammar family employs young Maysoon Baladi, whose own family struggles financially, to clean up after their spoiled teenagers. Meanwhile, Marcus Salameh confronts his father in an effort to protect his younger sister for “dishonoring” their name. Only a trip to Palestine, where Marcus experiences an unexpected and dramatic transformation, can bridge this seemingly unbridgeable divide between the two generations.

Behind You Is the Sea faces stereotypes about Palestinian culture head-on and, shifting perspectives to weave a complex social fabric replete with weddings, funerals, broken hearts, and devastating secrets.

Fiction Fiction - Literary

Susan Muaddi Darraj is the author of American Book Award–winner A Curious Land and was a finalist for a Palestine Book Award. A United States Artists’ Ford Fellow and past winner of the Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Award, she is also the author of Farah Rocks, the first children’s book series to feature a Palestinian American character. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland, and teaches at Harford Community College and Johns Hopkins University.