Children of the Ashes: Growing up in Gaza

This novel, 'Children of the Ashes', gives the reader a very unique perspective on the existensial crisis of the Palestinian people. It is a story of a young 12 year old child who lost his father before his very eyes, left with his mother and two sisters to survive. While his everyday life involves 'living' admist hunger, seige and relentless bombardment, this young child roams across the streets of Bait Hanoun in search of food and water revealing the true essence of Palestinian resistance; which is an unbreakable will to live. And that hope is greater than pain...

This novel is not merely a documentation of war and destruction, but a tragic tale of destroyed schools, broken homes, neighbourhoods through the child's eyes. This particular narrative makes the reader experience these painful moments very deeply. But admist this destruction, hope emerges by the fateful meeting with the wounded resistance fighter. He and the child become a symbol of connecting two generations: the generation of the fighters and the generation of the children. His martrydom in the child's arms does not close the story, but opens it to a deeper meaning; that the will to live is an inherited legacy, and that steadfastness is a message passed down from heart to heart.