ghada karmi

An extraordinary memoir of exile and the impossibility of finding home

After growing up in Britain following exile from Palestine in 1948, Karmi returns to her homeland in the hope of helping with the peace process and the possibility of a Palestinian state.

She starts work within the Palestinian Authority ministry. Yet she finds her family home has now been occupied, and much of the West Bank militarized; meanwhile her encounters with fellow Palestinians, politicians, and Israeli solders forces her to question what role the diaspora has in the future of the homeland, and whether return is truly possible. Beautifully written and deeply moving, Return is a passionate meditation on belonging.