Three Daughters
This is an epic saga spanning three generations from a Palestinian village near Jerusalem. The women are all bound by secrets that have a common thread. In the early 1900s, Miriam is different from other girls. She is eager for self-improvement but has to marry young according to custom and is expected to produce many children. While her husband is away in the army, she must look after his business as well as deal with loss and personal tragedy. In the process she is drawn into an illicit relationship that has profound consequences.
Nadia is also a misfit, but she is indulged by her devoted father and given a fine education that leads her to fall in love with an unsuitable older man. The clan bands together and blocks her ambitions in an astonishing way. Nadia must accept her change in fortune and invests instead in her desire to become a mother.
Nijmeh also has privileges, but suffers from the conflicting pressures of possessive parents and old traditions that clash with the modern world. She, too, has a thwarted love life. After she marries a doctor and moves to America, she takes her first tentative steps to control her own destiny only to discover shocking truths about her mother and other events in the past.
The historical background is secondary to the family relationships, but it does give some insight into both Palestinian culture and the major events that would impact the country’s future up to the mid-1950s. As with the lives of its protagonists, the novel has its peaks and troughs, but it is still absorbing reading about a group of vibrant and passionate individuals. The ending is inconclusive and may indicate a sequel. Recommended for those who enjoy unusual settings and rambling multi-generational stories.
