A Spring That Did Not Blossom

Drawing on cultural and oral history, Nejmeh Khalil Habib's collection of five powerful short stories delves into the lives of ordinary Palestinians trying to find their way through relentless circumstances. Introducing us to characters loosely interconnected by time and place, the stories begin in 1975 with a family living in the Dbayeh refugee camp and end with the Israeli siege of West Beirut in 1982. From Mariam, a mother devoted to her only child, to Nu'man, the soon-to-be-martyred young man who is ashamed of unwanted thoughts that mar his heroism, to Randa, the revolutionary, who is torn between glorifying her father's sacrifices and denouncing them, to Amer who is spread thin between his familial obligations and aspirations, Habib accompanies each of her characters nimbly in language at times simple and embedded in popular vernacular, at others lyrical and poetic. Marked by a storytelling style that is concise yet unconfined, Habib's mastery of craft allows her to dive boldly into her characters' depths and say what has not been said, revealing their hidden worlds with illuminating transparency that honours their unrequited longings for spring.