Henna House

May 26, 2014
At first glance, Eve’s follow-up to The Family Orchard appears to be an expansive historical novel about Yemeni Jews in the first decades of the 20th century, only to settle into a smaller-scale tale of women navigating the strictures and delights of their domestic lives. In 1920, Adela Damari, daughter of a kind Jewish cobbler and his shrewish wife, lives in the mountain village of Qaraah in the Kingdom of North Yemen, then ruled by the oppressive Imam Yahye. Because Adela’s father is sickly, the family lives in terror that she will be forcibly adopted and converted by a Muslim family should he die—as allowed for by law. However, the family’s attempts to avert this fate by marrying her off come to nothing. Adela’s lonely life changes after the arrival in the village of members of her extended family, including her Aunt Rahel and cousin Hani, who introduce Adela to the art of henna. The heart of Eve’s book lies here, amid Adela’s tight-knit sisters-in-law, aunts, and cousins, as the women cook, bake bread, and minister to their husbands and brothers. What’s missing from the touching coming-of-age story that ensues is a better sense of the historical forces acting on these Jews of the Saudi peninsula during a time frame that extends right up to the start of WWII. Agent: Amelia Atlas, ICM Partners.

November 1, 2015

In 1920s Yemen a Jewish child could be "confiscated" by local Muslim leaders when her father died, even if her mother was still living. The only way for Jewish parents to prevent this was to betroth their daughter at a young age. Eve (The Family Orchard) tells the story of Adela Damari and in the process sheds light on the rich traditions and history of the Yemenite Jews. This dramatic family saga will entrance readers who like to travel to faraway places and times and enthrall those who enjoy examining women's varying relationships with their mothers, sisters, cousins, friends, husbands, and lovers. (LJ 5/15/14)

READ-ALIKES Maggie Anton's "Rashi's Daughters" trilogy, Alice Hoffman's The Marriage of Opposites, and Jessica Jiji's Sweet Dates in Basra.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2014
Adela is a young Jewish girl in early twentieth-century Yemen. In a house full of garrulous brothers, an ailing father, and a bitter mother, Adela seeks solace in a hidden cave where she can dream and, most of all, protect herself from the attentions of the Confiscator, a Muslim official who seizes Jewish children whose fathers have died. Racing against time and her father's illness, Adela's family makes an engagement with a distant cousin, Asaf, whom Adela invites into her cave and her heart. When Asaf and his father leave town, Adela is comforted by the arrival of her aunt, a henna artist, and her female cousins. As Adela grows, we follow her family and its community through their journey to the prosperous port of Aden; marriages and deaths; the establishment of Israel; and, finally, their departure for Israel in the famous airlift Operation On Wings of Eagles. Although somewhat generic in its depiction of female companionship and the hidden sensualities of traditional cultures, the novel is a welcome glimpse into this historical moment and little-known culture.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

May 15, 2014

Eve (The Family Orchard) re-creates the life of the Yemenite Jewish community from 1920 through the group's immigration to Israel in 1950. At the age of five, Adela Damari is terrified by the Confiscator, an agent of the local imam, whose job it is to remove orphaned Jewish children from their community and place them with Muslim families. To protect Adela, her ailing parents madly hunt for a Jewish male to become her betrothed. When her aunt, uncle, and cousin arrive in the village, Adela becomes entranced by the henna designs created by her aunt, learns her craft, and also bonds with her female cousin, Hani. As all of Adela's betrothals fail and drought strikes the village, the family flees to the seaport city of Aden. Finally, in 1950 the Israelis airlift the entire Yemenite community to Israel where they find safety, but not necessarily acceptance. VERDICT Eve opens a window on a community, little known in the Western world, whose rituals and traditions were maintained for over 2,000 years. Her appealing portrait of young men and women moving from an ancient life into modernity will captivate readers who enjoy historical fiction [Three-city tour.]--Andrea Kempf, formerly with Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.