A Curious Land

Susan Muaddi Darraj’s short story collection about the inhabitants of a Palestinian West Bank village, Tel al- Hilou, spans generations and continents to explore ideas of memory, belonging, connection, and, ultimately, the deepest and richest meaning of home.

“In reading A Curious Land, it occurred to me that Susan Muaddi Darraj is an archivist -- in an important sense, if not the traditional one. In telling the stories of Palestinians and Palestinian-Americans, her stories offer an archive of language, of customs; they record those relations between people that, for lack of a better word, we call 'civilization.'”

“Susan Muaddi Darraj’s brilliant attention to the details of individual and collective experiences of love, occupation, immigration, and loss over the span of several decades creates an immensely powerful, intimate, and complex portrait of Palestinian lives, both at home and in the diaspora.” — Carol Fadda- Conrey

“A Curious Land places Muaddi Darraj with other hybrid- American authors of African, Latin American, Jewish, and other heritages who ensure that our understandings of notions of identity and home remain diverse and complex.” — Electronic Intifada

“There is a no judgment or anger in the stories. Darraj shows us one side of a decades- long conflict, with characters struggling for the peace and happiness we all want for ourselves.”— Amina Gautier, The Rumpus

“The author’s empathy for the large cast of embattled characters is miraculous.” — Jaime Manrique, author of Our Lives Are the Rivers

“Utterly unique.” — Lalita noronha, author of Where Monsoons Cry and Her Skin Phyllo- Thin

“Chatty, generous, and often hilarious, this book is full of characters you won’t want to leave behind.” — Randa Jarrar, author of A Map of Home: A Novel

“The stories in A Curious Land dissolve the boundaries that can separate people.” — Hayan Charara, author of The Sadness of Others

“A Curious Land humanizes a political situation.” — Necessary Fiction

“A superb collection and a perfect selection for public libraries.” — Booklist

Susan Muaddi Darraj is author of The Inheritance of Exile. A Philadelphia native, she currently lives in Baltimore.

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