In Search of Fatima: a Palestinian Story

Catholic New Times, Dec 14, 2003 by Ted Schmidt

In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story by Ghadi Karmi, Verso Books, 2002. The author's life was uprooted in her own evening "of shattered glass, shootings and explosions" on January 5, 1948. So began the "Palestinian diaspora and Karmi's exile from Jerusalem. She was eight years old as she began her life first in Damascus, then in Golders Green in London, England.

She describes the profound depression of her mother, struggling to come to terms with the nakba (catastophe) and her strange new life in London. Inevitably, it had effects on the children who of course rebound and become English. Trained as a doctor, Karmi channels her energy into political work around the PLO, and she attempts to get a hearing for the Palestinian people in a racist England. Both a sad and inspiring memoir.