The Almond Tree is instead the literary equivalent of Guernica, exposing the real costs of violent conflict, extinguished human dreams, families torn asunder, opportunities lost, and the tragic waste of brilliant and creative human minds.

The Almond Tree, is honest. It places real blame, not gratuitous blame, where it belongs. It does not hide behind political complexities nor shift responsibility for some truly abhorrent practices of Israel toward the Palestinian people. Neither does it condone retaliatory violence.

The Almond Tree skillfully cobbles together a mosaic of the Palestinian condition from the mid-twentieth century to the present time with stark candor.

The Almond Tree is not an easy read. It is not something one can enjoy, unless one enjoys having one’s heart shredded by painful truths.Or unless one is comfortable with prods to the conscience that demand personal and perhaps costly moral action.

Corasanti’s The Almond Tree will have purchase on our moral imaginations equal to that experienced through reading To Kill A Mockingbird or watching Schindler’s List.

You probably do not recognize the name Michelle Cohen Corasanti, but you will. She is the author of a consequential book that will force us to look at the tragic Palestinian Israeli conflict in much the same way that Solzshenitzyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich compelled us to examine the harsh realities […]

When Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner made an impact after reading, Corasanti’s The Almond Tree is no less to it. With her brilliant writing, the author amazes the readers with a most powerful and inspiring story line.

While reading The Almond Tree, I was strongly reminded of The Kite Runner and One Thousand Splendid Suns. The Almond Tree is about the controversial history of Palestine and it gifts you with an experience so exquisite that you can’t help but marvel.

An awesome debut by any standards, this is a story that would resonate with the reader no matter where he is from.