Yassini Girls

In an ancient house behind stone walls in the Old City of Jerusalem, an unexpected phone call reignites a past Fatima has long buried. Thousands of miles away in the British countryside, a family heirloom buried beneath an attic floor forces Layla to journey into the darkest parts of Palestinian history. Separated by distance and time, the lives of these two women are stitched together in a way neither of them could have imagined.

Yassini Girls is a multi-generational novel that explores trauma, belonging, and preserving tradition against all odds to secure our present. Based on the author's own experiences following a BBC documentary film, Yassini Girls reminds us how our past will always be part of our future.

About the Author:

Shereen Malherbe is a British Palestinian author. She is recognized for her work with various media organisations, where she advocates for authentic Palestinian voices and the preservation of Palestinian heritage. She is the author of four novels and a children's series, and her short story, The Cypress Tree, has been published in World Literature Today. She has also been nominated for The Palestine Book Awards. 

Her involvement in the BBC documentary film, The Holy Land and Us - Our Untold Stories, was the inspiration for the story told in Yassini Girls and explored her own family links to the 1948 Nakba, a catastrophic event etched into the national consciousness of Palestine.
Visit her website here.