This book has me captivated in a complex story of possibilities and taboos but then one hurried chapter ruined it all.

Liat (Bazi) and Hilmi find themselves coming together in New York and they seem to fall in love with each other. Their relationship would look perfect, though there are definitely ups and downs regarding work practices and negotiating personal interests Vs relationships, apart from one complex thing; Their background and nationalities being Israeli and Palestinian.

There is, for sure, the underlying tension between them both throughout. The family members not approving, the hushed tones on the phone to other members and them trying to navigate the New York travel system without being spotted by an acquaintance from time to time. They seem despondent that it is unlikely to ever truly work and eventually the time comes for Liat to return to Israel and Hilmi decides to head back to Palestine for a while too.

They keep in touch and you’re left wondering if they will do some grand border crossing to be reunited in a declaration of love and forgetting all the social and family boundaries and expectations placed on them. But instead the story just falls apart.

At the start of the book Liat says “out of sight, out of mind” regarding a relationship and Hilmi does an Arabic equivalent saying of “far from the eye, far from the heart” and part of me wishes they repeated these lines later in the book about how that isn’t the case for the two of them and that even with distance, not seeing each other and limited communication they are still there thinking of each other with the odd extra heartbeat too.

From incredible writing, flowing story, a nice little bit of romance and a true feeling of development to the last chapter that just felt rushed, incomplete and honestly even after re-reading it a couple of times still has me a bit confused to what actually happened. I think I understand the ending and it’s implications but it also wasn’t laid out incredibly clearly and it just felt so disjointed from the rest of the book that it left me brutally disappointed.

This book is an international bestseller and I can understand why as it’s a love story placed around modern conflict that has caught the attention of the globe and for the most part it is well done and a carefully considered piece of writing. If you ignore the last paragraph this truly is a joyful read from page to page and I would still recommend it to somebody just with the caveat of a really disappointing ending.

This was, overall, a pleasure to read and given I found it in a charity shop and even more enjoyable find. It is powerful and at moments it really does pack a punch it just needed a moment more rounding to land the knockout blow.