Songs for the Brokenhearted: A Novel
A young Yemeni Israeli woman learns of her mother’s secret romance in a dramatic journey through lost family stories, revealing the unbreakable bond between a mother and a daughter—the debut novel of an award-winning literary voice.
“A gorgeous, gripping novel filled with unforgettable characters.”—Elizabeth Graver, author of Kantika
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD’S JJ GREENBERG MEMORIAL AWARD
1950. Thousands of Yemeni Jews have immigrated to the newly founded Israel in search of a better life. In an overcrowded immigrant camp in Rosh Ha’ayin, Yaqub, a shy young man, happens upon Saida, a beautiful girl singing by the river. In the midst of chaos and uncertainty, they fall in love. But they weren’t supposed to; Saida is married and has a child, and a married woman has no place befriending another man.
1995. Thirty-something Zohara, Saida’s daughter, has been living in New York City—a city that feels much less complicated than Israel, where she grew up wishing that her skin was lighter, that her illiterate mother’s Yemeni music was quieter, and that the father who always favored her was alive. She hasn’t looked back since leaving home, rarely in touch with her mother or sister, Lizzie, and missing out on her nephew Yoni’s childhood. But when Lizzie calls to tell her their mother has died, she gets on a plane to Israel with no return ticket.
Soon Zohara finds herself on an unexpected path that leads to shocking truths about her family—including dangers that lurk for impressionable young men and secrets that force her to question everything she thought she knew about her parents, her heritage, and her own future.
“A gorgeous, gripping novel filled with unforgettable characters.”—Elizabeth Graver, author of Kantika
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD’S JJ GREENBERG MEMORIAL AWARD
1950. Thousands of Yemeni Jews have immigrated to the newly founded Israel in search of a better life. In an overcrowded immigrant camp in Rosh Ha’ayin, Yaqub, a shy young man, happens upon Saida, a beautiful girl singing by the river. In the midst of chaos and uncertainty, they fall in love. But they weren’t supposed to; Saida is married and has a child, and a married woman has no place befriending another man.
1995. Thirty-something Zohara, Saida’s daughter, has been living in New York City—a city that feels much less complicated than Israel, where she grew up wishing that her skin was lighter, that her illiterate mother’s Yemeni music was quieter, and that the father who always favored her was alive. She hasn’t looked back since leaving home, rarely in touch with her mother or sister, Lizzie, and missing out on her nephew Yoni’s childhood. But when Lizzie calls to tell her their mother has died, she gets on a plane to Israel with no return ticket.
Soon Zohara finds herself on an unexpected path that leads to shocking truths about her family—including dangers that lurk for impressionable young men and secrets that force her to question everything she thought she knew about her parents, her heritage, and her own future.
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Community Reviews
When the State of Israel was created in 1948 and Jews from around the world flocked to its new hope, the country struggled to keep up with the influx of immigrants. Transit camps were erected but quickly became overcrowded and unsanitary. When Saida and her husband arrived from Yemen in 1950, they found themselves assigned to one of these camps, a place where many of their children were removed, never to be seen again. Saida’s son will be one of them.
The ancient heritage of North Africa and Arab Jews, or Mizrahis, predates Islam when Jewish communities settled in areas that would later become predominantly Muslim. But in their new and promising country, their Arabness was viewed as inferior, ignorant, and primitive. Saida’s daughter Zohara will later grow up ashamed of her heritage and her mother after she receives an elite education in a mainstream Israeli school. She moves to the United States through opportunities this education provides.
When Saida passes away, Zohara returns to Israel to help her sister sort through their mother’s home and personal belongings. Through this process, she will meet the woman her mother was and begin to reexamine her views of her heritage.
This well-written and moving story highlights the cultural divide between the Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews, an example of prejudice that is all too common in the world. The story of the missing Mizrahi children will eddy at the center of this novel as it ironically demonstrates the thoughtless cruelty one group will justify when seeing the other as inferior.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group—Random House and NetGalley for providing this eARC.
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