Shibli presents an emotionally powerful and devastating story in less than 150 pages that is guaranteed to haunt the reader long after the novel ends. She writes with incredible intention—which I thought Jaquette got across well in English—to draw attention to the lesser, minor details of one's surroundings and in history.

The novel is divided into two parts, the first part told from the perspective of an Israeli soldier in 1948, while the second is from the perspective of a Palestinian woman decades later. The two parts are in close dialogue and has much to unpack, especially as they are connected by the brutal rape and murder of a Palestinian girl that occurs in the first part. This is an incredibly tough novel to read, yet it is crucial for non-Palestinians especially to sit with this history that Shibli shares.