This is a compelling testament to the human spirit's capacity to grapple with displacement, loss, and the persistent yearning for a home that has been forcefully taken away.

Khoury’s portrayal of identity is haunting and profound -- like a fractured mirror in which pain and suffering glue the pieces together to reflect the collective trauma of the Nakba.

Memory and nostalgia suffuse every page, with Khoury masterfully blurring the lines between remembering and forgetting. The act of remembrance becomes both a refuge and a prison.

Perhaps most striking is the theme of silence and smell. Khoury uses silence not just as an absence of words but as a powerful force -- a language of its own. The unsaid looms over every interaction, a poignant reminder of the weight of what cannot be spoken.

Similarly, smell becomes a visceral motif, capturing the essence of memory and belonging in a way that words cannot. Scents conjure forgotten worlds, evoke distant homes, and immerse readers in the sensory experience of loss. Through the interplay of silence and smell, Khoury paints a picture of lives fractured by displacement yet tethered to the past through invisible threads.

This is quite simply a must-read.