Sandy Tolan is a journalist, teacher and documentary radio producer and has reported from more than 30 countries, particularly in the Middle East. He has produced dozens of radio documentaries and has written for newspapers and magazines including the New York Times and USA Today. He now teaches international reporting at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley.
At a time when peace seems remote and darkness deepens, this lucid, humane, hopeful book shines like a ray of light * The Times * A superb, sustained piece of narrative non-fiction * The Sunday Times * Extraordinary... Tolan's narrative provides a much needed human dimension to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict... a highly readable and evocative history * Washington Post * Reads like a novel... an informed take for anyone interested in the human stories behind a conflict * New Statesman * A fascinating and highly absorbing account full of warmth, compassion and hope * Scotland on Sunday * As they follow Dalia and Bashir's difficult friendship, readers will experience one of the world's most stubborn conflicts firsthand * Publishers Weekly * Masterly and brilliantly researched... If it were fiction, critics would no doubt hail the epic, almost Tolstoyan quality of this book * Morning Star * A much-needed antidote to the cynicism of realpolitik * Booklist * Affecting. Sensitively told. Humane and literate - and rather daring in suggesting that the future of the Middle East need not be violent * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) * The inspiring lives of two unique people, and Tolan's compassion in narrating them, illuminate the tragedy of Palestine in the most moving and revealing way -- Karma Nabulsi, Prize Research Fellow, Oxford University