The Stone House

Yara Hawari

A vivid, haunting tale of intergenerational trauma and survival under Israeli occupation.

A New Arab Book of the Year 2021.

9 December 2021
Paperback / 9781914221040
ebook / 9781914221101
92 pages

Buy this book (paperback)

Buy this book (ebook)

‘Filled with visceral descriptions of life under occupation, The Stone House is a must-read.’
— The New Arab

‘Achieves lyricism by layering these [historical moments] with personal history imbued with emotional truth.’
— Words Without Borders

‘Explicitly citing lived experience and collective past as examples of credible material evidence ... this book asserts that the Nakba is best told by those with the bruises, not those with the batons.’
— Mohammed El-Kurd, author of Rifqa

The year is 1968. The recent Arab defeat in the Naksa has led to the loss of all of historic Palestine. In the midst of violent political upheaval, Mahmoud, a young Palestinian boy living in the Galilee, embarks on a school trip to visit the West Bank for the first time.

For Mahmoud, his mother and his grandmother, the journey sets off a flood of memories, tracing moments that bond three generations together. How do these personal experiences become collective history? Why do some feel guilty for surviving war? Is it strange to long for a time never lived?

In this groundbreaking novella, Yara Hawari harnesses the enduring power of memory in defiance of the constrictions on Palestinian life. Against a system bent on the erasure of their people, the family’s perseverance is unbroken in the decades-long struggle for their stone house.

Yara Hawari is a Palestinian writer and political commentator. She completed her PhD in Middle East Politics at the University of Exeter, where her research focused on oral history and Indigenous Studies. She currently works as a senior analyst at Al-Shabaka, a Palestinian think tank. The Stone House is her first book.

Listen along to Yara Hawari’s curated playlist for The Stone House.

‘A rigorous, feminist engagement with the history of the Palestinian tragedy ... Hawari explores the multifarious experiences of exile, displacement, survival, and return.’
— Isabella Hammad, author of The Parisian

‘A powerful story told with great care for humans’ capacity to remember and resist ... Hawari presents us with an evocative tale.’
— Ilan Pappé, author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

‘Yara weaves Palestinian oral histories into a tapestry of beauty. This narration is an act of resistance―an ode to the Hawari family and to every Palestinian family facing erasure.’
— Tareq Baconi, author of Hamas Contained

‘In accepting no defeat as final, this story should stir hope in us all.’
― Barnaby Raine, writer and activist

‘An ode to all the emotional roller coasters we had to shelve in the name of struggle ... a testament to our pursuit of a life lived well.’
— Mariam Barghouti, Palestinian writer and researcher

‘I love [the writer’s] voice … their observational power and what they have to say.’
— Preti Taneja, The Guardian

Press

In Palestine with Books

— Words Without Borders, 22 February 2024

Preti Taneja — The books of my life

— The Guardian, 8 September 2023

8 Books By Arab Authors To Read This Summer

— Pink Jinn, 29 June 2022

‘We will be defined by liberation’ (Part 2 of 2)

— Rampant, 26 May 2022

‘Everything in it is true’ (Part 1 of 2)

— Rampant, 24 May 2022