Behind You Is the Sea

A Novel

De: Susan Muaddi Darraj

Narrado por: Rasha Zamamiri, Ali Nasser

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 PEN/FAULKNER AWARD

""A beautiful portrait of a family reaching for their dreams while holding on to their roots.""—Publishers Weekly

""Each chapter reads like a small masterpiece.""—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

An exciting debut novel that gives voice to the diverse residents of a Palestinian American community in Baltimore—from young activists in conflict with their traditional parents to the poor who clean for the rich—lives which intersect across divides of class, generation, and religion.

Funny and touching, Behind You Is the Sea brings us into the homes and lives of three main families—the Baladis, the Salamehs, and the Ammars—Palestinian immigrants who’ve all found a different welcome in America.

Their various fates and struggles cause their community dynamic to sizzle and sometimes explode: The wealthy Ammar family employs young Maysoon Baladi, whose own family struggles financially, to clean up after their spoiled teenagers. Meanwhile, Marcus Salameh confronts his father in an effort to protect his younger sister for “dishonoring” their name. Only a trip to Palestine, where Marcus experiences an unexpected and dramatic transformation, can bridge this seemingly unbridgeable divide between the two generations.

Behind You Is the Sea faces stereotypes about Palestinian culture head-on and, shifting perspectives to weave a complex social fabric replete with weddings, funerals, broken hearts, and devastating secrets.

©2024 Susan Muaddi Darraj (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

The humanity of the characters

This book made me laugh, cry and feel all the feelings in between. The characters were full, deep and representative of a sliver of that Arab diaspora in America. The longing and nostalgia for the homeland is well characterized and deeply touching.

The richness of the story and Marcus and his father

Did not like Marcus as a cop and felt this real sadness and empathy for his dad. The stories of all the parents and grandparents were nice. Hiba s grandparents were a real soft spot for me. Really easy listen

Realistic

It is so wonderful to listen to the stories of glimpses of peoples lives and the cultural clashes. It captured the Arabs feelings from different perspectives.

 describes life in exile perfectly

The author his masterful woven the lives of very different Palistine families living in exile.

Poignant vignettes

Behind You Is the Sea is a compelling series of stories of various Arab-American characters loosely tied together by family or community.

Family and tradition woven throughout

Behind You Is the Sea shares through many characters, the lives of Palestinian Americans living in the Baltimore area. The intergenerational stories share so many relationships — siblings, parent-child, child-grandparent, and adult-child and parent. The characters' lives are messy and touching and heartfelt. The power of family and tradition — good and bad — is woven through every scene. This novel has all the feels. These families will stay with you after the last page is read.

Wonderful

I wanted to savor this book. Beautifully written, the book has well developed, multi-faceted, and interesting characters. It's about families, love, and loss. I'm looking forward to more books by this talented author!

Beautiful

The stories are so raw but beautiful. You gain and huge understanding for families who are either in Palestine or immigrated to the US in hopes for a better future. The stories sit with you and I’m so thankful to have picked this up to listen to. 🍉

Poetic short stories.

Simple, elegant, authentic and profound. These stories will stay with me for a long time. They cut right through to our universal humanity while paying homage to a cultural heritage.

Beautiful

This was a truly touching story. It follows several generations of Palestinians who immigrated to the U.S. It explored the difficulty between the generations who were born in the U.S. and the parents who were still tied to their cultural backgrounds.
I really enjoyed seeing the world from their different viewpoint as well as the similarities that is just a part of life. Very heartfelt and well written.