Two Palestinian women recall their lives in exile

It is not difficult to think that if their fates weren't scattered to the wind by al-Nakba, Salem and Karmi may have become fast friends had their paths crossed in an intact Palestine. Both are strong-willed women who rebelled while still attempting to respect their families' wishes (or at least most of the time). What is quite compelling about their memoirs is how they both managed to cope with coming into their own in a culture that was not theirs, while their parents were helpless, watching them reject many of the practicesthat had been the guarantors of security in pre-diaspora Palestinian society.

Both Salem and Karmi's families were residing in cities that were conquered during al-Nakba. Before Israel took their place,they were part of a new urban class of those who had left villages for the more cosmopolitan cities such as Jerusalem and Jaffa. Though her mother always remained proud of her rural fellahi background, Salem's father yearned for something more grand than village life allowed and established a successful fruit distribution business in Jaffa. Karmi's father, from a notable Tulkarem family, was a linguist in Jerusalem, and his wife an institution in the city's well-to-do social scene.

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