Heart-break, calm and depolarisation

Cinnamon author Yaara Lahav Gregory’s debut novel came out on October 20 in the midst of the current trqgedy engulfing Isreal and Gaza.

Israeli-born, Yaara has spoken about heartbreak in the face of this situatiion and the need for calm and depolarisation.

Yaara, who has lived in Devon for 30 years, grew up on a kibbutz in Israel and her novel, Night Swimming in the Jordan, is set in Israel and England.

“It has taken me years to write this book and get it to publication.  The story has arisen out of the time and place where I grew up, in a kibbutz in 1970s Israel, and is deeply rooted in the complexities of this very troubled part of the world. Coincidentally, the novel is being published at a time when all these issues have boiled over once again, causing pain and trauma to thousands of innocent people. Perhaps, in terms of its immediate relevance, that is a good thing, but at the same time I am heartbroken by recent events and the ongoing hostilities. It’s difficult to think of celebrating my new novel at such a troubled time.

Yaara’s family are all still in Israel, so it’s an anxious time for her and for the many Israelis and Palestinians watching from a distance.  A lifelong peace activist, she has worked with others for many years to promote Palestinian rights within both Israel and the Occupied Territories. She advocates for a peaceful and just solution to the conflict and is deeply disheartened by recent events and concerned at what the coming weeks may bring.

Her novel is a coming-of-age love story which also explores many of the burning political issues affecting the region. Yaara has had mixed feelings about the inadvertant timing of her novel coming out now, but hopes it will give people a perspective on this complex and troubled region. The book tells the story of Abbie, an idealistic young girl growing up in an isolated kibbutz community, who ends up leaving her homeland, never to return. It explores what it means to grow up in someone else’s Utopia, where the threat of war is ever present, and relationships are coloured by politics and ideology.  Abbie leaves Isreal after a fateful protest march on the eve of her wedding and it is only decades later that her daughter begins to uncover the devastating reality of her mother’s childhood in a social experiment that discarded family life in favour of the collective. But can the truth ever be recovered?

If you are in Devon, Yaara will be talking about the novel and the ongoing Israel-Palestine situation at the Ashburton Arts Centre on 23 November. You can find the details of this and other events Yaara is taking part in on her website events page.

And this is whee you will find Night Swimming in the Jordan