The Stone House - Yara Hawari

The year is 1968. The recent Arab defeat in the Naksa has led to the loss of all of historic Palestine. In the midst of violent political upheaval, Mahmoud, a young Palestinian boy living in the Galilee, embarks on a school trip to visit the West Bank for the first time.The journey sets off a flood of memories, tracing moments that bond three family members together. How do these personal experiences become collective history? Why do some feel guilty for surviving war? Is it strange to long for a time never lived? In this groundbreaking novella, Yara Hawari evokes the nonlinear form of memory in defiance of the rigid constrictions on Palestinian life. Against an oppressive system that seeks to erode and erase, steadfastness and resolve are epitomised by the stone house.