Set in 1948 in the lakeside village of Samakh, the novel provides a poignant, anecdotal account of Palestinian life on the brink of the Nakba (“the disaster”). Rather than a traditional linear plot, Yakhlif uses shifting perspectives—including the unique viewpoint of a villager’s dog—to document the daily routines, hopes, and fears of a community being torn apart by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The narrative follows characters like young Radi and a local poet as their peaceful existence is replaced by the chaos of battle, the arrival of a beleaguered army, and the eventual forced exile. The story serves as a lyrical lament for a lost world, blending simple, folktale-like prose with a meticulous attention to the natural landscape of mid-century Palestine.
