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The Sunbird
Nabila Yasmeen is in her eighties. She lives alone with over a hundred plants that she keeps in pots because she can’t bear to put them in the ground. In June of 1948, as a six-year-old girl, she was expelled with her family from their village in Palestine. Now she carries the weight of that expulsion with her, and her past and present are one. Told in time shift, The Sunbird is a modern parable which tells the story of millions who just want to go home.
112 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
October 8, 2025
3★
“Crouching like a sunbird ready to fly, Nabila Yasmeen peered through the window of the village school. The children had taken their places, in rows four deep, eager for their learning to begin.
. . .
He was the school’s only teacher and he taught the children everything they needed to know.”
I think this is for readers who are unfamiliar with the ancient and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. I saw a review by someone who said they had no idea what the situation has been, so I guess this novel has served that purpose. In her author’s note, she writes,
“It is necessarily brief, to counter the narrative that the question of Palestine is complicated...”
It is brief, but nothing is simple.
Palestine, December 1947. Nabila is a bright five-and-a-half-year-old girl who is desperate to join the other children at school, and the young teacher kindly pretends to ignore her, with an occasional almost-smile, until he has to shoo her away.
Today, while she’s still watching, he seem serious and nervous and hasn’t shooed her away yet, so she listens.
“He was good-humoured and easy in his manner, but today Nabila noticed something different in him. He seemed distracted, unsure. There was a lightness missing.
He cleared his throat, adjusted the collar around his neck and began to relay the news that had come to him via the radio. But Nabila found it hard to follow what he was saying. He told his class that, on Monday, the United Nations (whatever that was) had passed something called Resolution 181. He talked of partition and special committees. Of welfare and friendly relations among nations. Of mandates and immigration and freedom of worship. But it soon became apparent that the children in the classroom, most of whom were much older than Nabila, had no idea what he was talking about either.
So, he began again and in the simplest of terms he distilled the information for them. He told them that their country would be divided and a new country formed within it. Nabila was still confused. How could a new country be put inside a country that was already there? Where would the new country go? Where did it come from? What would happen to the people who were already there? Would they be squashed into the ground like ants under a boot? Would Nabila’s village be in the new country? Why was this happening? Nabila didn’t understand at all.”
This is Nabila’s and the reader’s introduction to the partition of Palestine into two states: Arab and Jewish.
The book goes on to follow the displacement of Palestinians from then until now. Then it shifts timelines to December 2023 in Australia, where Nabila is now an old lady.
I believe the author is presenting this moving story to show Palestine’s plight since WW2, when the UN moved to split one country into two. For readers who have not followed the continuing conflict in the Middle East, the UN resolution may be as much of a surprise as it is to Nabila. Jewish people supported it, but Arabs didn’t, and it has been ever thus.
People today, certainly those of Nabila’s generation, know about the Holocaust and perhaps about the promise to establish a safe, free Jewish State.
I humbly suggest the United Nations was between a rock and a hard place, as the saying goes, and agreed to select part of the ancestral Jewish homeland for the new country.
Contrary to the author’s statement that this is simple, I think it’s a conflict that goes back more than two thousand years and is still complicated.
There’s a saying I like: “It’s a reason, but it’s no excuse.” For me, it applies to most forms of revenge and the brutality that’s been used over the years. The behaviour on both sides has been to provoke the other until someone makes a move and then stomp on them.
Any conversation about this becomes, “Yes, but…” vs “Yes, but…”, noting past atrocities, past take-overs, past political upheaval, going back probably to pre-Biblical times. And then it becomes bomb vs bomb.
But one genocide doesn’t justify another.
The book does not mention the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, and there is no mention of hostages. The only indirect reference is in December 2023 when Nabila is attending protest marches where she lives in Australia. Readers are obviously expected to know what the protests are.
The author includes many pages of links to articles and research, and I have no doubt at all that she knows what she has written about.
Not long ago, I read Apeirogon, the award-winning biographical novel by the incomparable Colum McCann, where two fathers – Israeli and Palestinian, each of whom had lost young daughters to the ongoing hostilities – hoped to work together to create some kind of peaceful co-existence.
It wasn’t simple then, and it isn’t simple now. I sure wish it were.
Read this and see what you think - and then get curious.
For some reasonably basic background, I suggest you check the articles by Britannica (now based in the US) and the BBC.
https://www.britannica.com/event/1948...
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-441...
My review of Apeirogon
P.S. I read The Sunbird because it is one of the five books sent to all Australian parliamentarians for summer reading about the Israel-Gaza war. (Remember the Aussie summer is Dec-Jan-Feb.)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-2...
The other four books sent to Aussie MPs are:
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and Beyond by John Lyons
Ten Myths About Israel by Ilan Pappé
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917–2017 by Rashid Khalidi
Palestine A - Z by Kate Thompson
“Crouching like a sunbird ready to fly, Nabila Yasmeen peered through the window of the village school. The children had taken their places, in rows four deep, eager for their learning to begin.
. . .
He was the school’s only teacher and he taught the children everything they needed to know.”
I think this is for readers who are unfamiliar with the ancient and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. I saw a review by someone who said they had no idea what the situation has been, so I guess this novel has served that purpose. In her author’s note, she writes,
“It is necessarily brief, to counter the narrative that the question of Palestine is complicated...”
It is brief, but nothing is simple.
Palestine, December 1947. Nabila is a bright five-and-a-half-year-old girl who is desperate to join the other children at school, and the young teacher kindly pretends to ignore her, with an occasional almost-smile, until he has to shoo her away.
Today, while she’s still watching, he seem serious and nervous and hasn’t shooed her away yet, so she listens.
“He was good-humoured and easy in his manner, but today Nabila noticed something different in him. He seemed distracted, unsure. There was a lightness missing.
He cleared his throat, adjusted the collar around his neck and began to relay the news that had come to him via the radio. But Nabila found it hard to follow what he was saying. He told his class that, on Monday, the United Nations (whatever that was) had passed something called Resolution 181. He talked of partition and special committees. Of welfare and friendly relations among nations. Of mandates and immigration and freedom of worship. But it soon became apparent that the children in the classroom, most of whom were much older than Nabila, had no idea what he was talking about either.
So, he began again and in the simplest of terms he distilled the information for them. He told them that their country would be divided and a new country formed within it. Nabila was still confused. How could a new country be put inside a country that was already there? Where would the new country go? Where did it come from? What would happen to the people who were already there? Would they be squashed into the ground like ants under a boot? Would Nabila’s village be in the new country? Why was this happening? Nabila didn’t understand at all.”
This is Nabila’s and the reader’s introduction to the partition of Palestine into two states: Arab and Jewish.
The book goes on to follow the displacement of Palestinians from then until now. Then it shifts timelines to December 2023 in Australia, where Nabila is now an old lady.
I believe the author is presenting this moving story to show Palestine’s plight since WW2, when the UN moved to split one country into two. For readers who have not followed the continuing conflict in the Middle East, the UN resolution may be as much of a surprise as it is to Nabila. Jewish people supported it, but Arabs didn’t, and it has been ever thus.
People today, certainly those of Nabila’s generation, know about the Holocaust and perhaps about the promise to establish a safe, free Jewish State.
I humbly suggest the United Nations was between a rock and a hard place, as the saying goes, and agreed to select part of the ancestral Jewish homeland for the new country.
Contrary to the author’s statement that this is simple, I think it’s a conflict that goes back more than two thousand years and is still complicated.
There’s a saying I like: “It’s a reason, but it’s no excuse.” For me, it applies to most forms of revenge and the brutality that’s been used over the years. The behaviour on both sides has been to provoke the other until someone makes a move and then stomp on them.
Any conversation about this becomes, “Yes, but…” vs “Yes, but…”, noting past atrocities, past take-overs, past political upheaval, going back probably to pre-Biblical times. And then it becomes bomb vs bomb.
But one genocide doesn’t justify another.
The book does not mention the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, and there is no mention of hostages. The only indirect reference is in December 2023 when Nabila is attending protest marches where she lives in Australia. Readers are obviously expected to know what the protests are.
The author includes many pages of links to articles and research, and I have no doubt at all that she knows what she has written about.
Not long ago, I read Apeirogon, the award-winning biographical novel by the incomparable Colum McCann, where two fathers – Israeli and Palestinian, each of whom had lost young daughters to the ongoing hostilities – hoped to work together to create some kind of peaceful co-existence.
It wasn’t simple then, and it isn’t simple now. I sure wish it were.
Read this and see what you think - and then get curious.
For some reasonably basic background, I suggest you check the articles by Britannica (now based in the US) and the BBC.
https://www.britannica.com/event/1948...
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-441...
My review of Apeirogon P.S. I read The Sunbird because it is one of the five books sent to all Australian parliamentarians for summer reading about the Israel-Gaza war. (Remember the Aussie summer is Dec-Jan-Feb.)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-2...
The other four books sent to Aussie MPs are:
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and Beyond by John Lyons
Ten Myths About Israel by Ilan Pappé
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917–2017 by Rashid Khalidi
Palestine A - Z by Kate Thompson
August 1, 2024
A curious girl pretends to be a bird, is excited for school and runs around with her sisters. But she is Palestinian and it is December of 1947; her life is about to change incomprehensibly.
As an elderly woman in 2022 her life is also shifting, the burden of displacement hangs heavy but the world seems to be awakening.
A quiet novella that is so powerful precisely because of its subtlety. By focusing on the ‘small’ moments, injustice is amplified and the survival of a girl, a woman, of all Palestinians is understood to be precisely what it is; an enduring act of strength and hope, moreover, defiance. Simple prose and a clear vision, I only wish it had been longer. Highly recommend.
As an elderly woman in 2022 her life is also shifting, the burden of displacement hangs heavy but the world seems to be awakening.
A quiet novella that is so powerful precisely because of its subtlety. By focusing on the ‘small’ moments, injustice is amplified and the survival of a girl, a woman, of all Palestinians is understood to be precisely what it is; an enduring act of strength and hope, moreover, defiance. Simple prose and a clear vision, I only wish it had been longer. Highly recommend.
May 30, 2024
what a beautiful glimpse into the lives of many. a wonderfully sad book that i will recommend to everyone now.
May 27, 2024
Highly recommend this book. The depiction of the Nakba experience is powerfully rendered. It was moving The way this book captures this sense of loss and longing that is central to the experience of dispossession and exile. Told from the perspective of Nabila Yasmeen an 80 year old who was expelled with her family from their village in Palestine in June of 1948. She carries this weight of expulsion with her.
July 17, 2024
‘The Nakba was the beginning and the end of everything. Only it had never ended. More than seventy-five years and seventy-five days later it endured. More brutal than ever.’
December 28, 2024
This is a powerful short piece of writing advocating the Palestinian cause. Haddad uses the character of Nabila Yasmeen to show the experience of the Naqba (the violent displacement of Palestinians in 1948) and the ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people. In 1948 Nabila is a young girl living in a Palestinian village. In 2023 Nabila is an old woman living in Sydney, being drawn into the protests on behalf of Palestinians suffering from the Israeli invasion of Gaza. The fictional section of the book is followed by an Addendum covering the history of the Naqba and subsequent exodus of Palestinians as refugees. There is a comprehensive bibliography.
I have followed the fraught politics of the Middle East for many years. I found Haddad's fiction very moving and learned new information from her Addendum. My already existing sympathies for the Palestinian people were deepened by reading her writing. But I cannot agree with her statement that the question of Palestine is a simple one. Not then, not now. I prefer to read more nuanced approaches and longer, more complex fictions. Apereigon by Colum McCann stands out for me in this regard.
I have followed the fraught politics of the Middle East for many years. I found Haddad's fiction very moving and learned new information from her Addendum. My already existing sympathies for the Palestinian people were deepened by reading her writing. But I cannot agree with her statement that the question of Palestine is a simple one. Not then, not now. I prefer to read more nuanced approaches and longer, more complex fictions. Apereigon by Colum McCann stands out for me in this regard.
September 1, 2024
A gem of a book. An important book. A 1-2 hour read. Based on the stories of real people this fictional piece follows the life of Nabila Yasmeen … her early years in Palestine - her later years in Sydney. A heart wrenching yet delightful story, very well written (delicate, creative, humanity-connected, nature-connected). The last chapter presents a brief, easy-to-read history of Palestine following 400 years rule by the Ottoman Empire. 10/10.
July 17, 2024
this small and powerful novel has told the story of the 14.3 million stateless Palestinian people. please read this.
December 2, 2024
My heart aches for the Palestinian people. I hope that the MPs who were sent this book, actually read it. I hope that this helps our decision-makers to act with empathy for Palestinians.
December 23, 2025
short, hard hitting piece on Palestine; very much humanizes all that is going on there and has been going on for many many years. I feel like you see such big numbers of deaths there and instagram infographics and so many headlines repeatedly- it’s hard for it to feel real or grasp it at all- or just hard to no get jaded. but this book does a nice job of letting you peek into what that loss looks and feels like and the long lasting effects
November 8, 2024
"The Nakba was the beginning and the end of everything. Only it had never ended."
A five-star work of literary activism, this is a slight yet evocative novella that must surely speak to the heart and humanity of anyone who reads it, with an addendum providing an incredibly concise summary of the Zionist colonial project and its fallout up until this point.
As a white Australian, "A land without a people for a people without a land" sounds an awful lot like the lie upon which our own racist, genocidal, colonial nation was founded: Terra nullius. It was false in 1788, it was false in 1948, and it remains false today. From the river to the sea.
A five-star work of literary activism, this is a slight yet evocative novella that must surely speak to the heart and humanity of anyone who reads it, with an addendum providing an incredibly concise summary of the Zionist colonial project and its fallout up until this point.
As a white Australian, "A land without a people for a people without a land" sounds an awful lot like the lie upon which our own racist, genocidal, colonial nation was founded: Terra nullius. It was false in 1788, it was false in 1948, and it remains false today. From the river to the sea.
November 20, 2024
So much power and emotion in this slim volume. I am hopeful that our politicians will read this and find it in their hearts to recognise Palestine.
January 14, 2025
A small but mighty book, this delicate story is full of love, loss, and hope and filled me up with it too.
October 2, 2024
I collected this hold from my local library this afternoon, devouring it with an immense heaviness in my stomach for the truth of its story to so many displaced Palestinians.
It has left me feeling such sadness, no less so because since its publication, the casualty figures quoted from events since late 2023 have more than doubled, I think.
A very important story that has real potential to reach a broader audience of those who are perhaps still ignorant to the history of Palestine.
Highly recommend.
It has left me feeling such sadness, no less so because since its publication, the casualty figures quoted from events since late 2023 have more than doubled, I think.
A very important story that has real potential to reach a broader audience of those who are perhaps still ignorant to the history of Palestine.
Highly recommend.
December 21, 2024
Nabila lost everything except for her life during the Nakba, the children in Gaza are not so lucky as we witness their slaughtering on our phones for an entire
year. Never forget and never forgive. “Humanism is the only - I would go so far as saying the final- resistance we have against the inhuman practices and injustices that disfigure human history.” (Edward Said)
year. Never forget and never forgive. “Humanism is the only - I would go so far as saying the final- resistance we have against the inhuman practices and injustices that disfigure human history.” (Edward Said)
January 28, 2025
My only gripe is that the author only used the 41,000 death toll count and never mentioned the various, credible estimates that are far, far more than this. To quote only this number does not provide enough scope to the scale of death caused by the zionist entity from October 2023 to January 2025.
July 30, 2024
Beautifully written and utterly heartbreaking. Filled with warmth and compassion, I was so impressed and moved by every page.
Huge thank you to the author for a copy.
Huge thank you to the author for a copy.
January 3, 2025
This is a purposeful, clearly written novella detailing the journey of an older Palestinian woman reliving her journey.
Beautiful, thought provoking and determined - a must read.
Beautiful, thought provoking and determined - a must read.
January 17, 2025
This made me cry with the injustice and evil in the world. How humans can murder and torture and remove culture for land is beyond me. Free Palestine. End colonialism.
January 25, 2025
"Perhaps the Sunbird doesn't belong to anyone one place. Perhaps it carries its home within itself, always seeking, always free"
October 1, 2025
incredible story of genocide that leaves you with zero hope for humanity
July 30, 2025
simple and devastating
December 21, 2024
I know what this book is going for. And it does a pretty good job of it, to be honest. It’s told in 2 parts - part 1 is of a great character young girl desperate to start school, but is Palestinian in 1948, just before the Nakba. This part is short, but powerful. Part 2 follows the same girl in 2023, in her 80s and now living in Australia. And she… is depressed about the disposable culture of the west, reminisces about her lost country with other expatriates, and spends her time attending rallies in support of Palestine. And that’s understandable I guess?….
I’ll be perfectly honest, I only heard about and so read this book because it was one of the set of books widely publicised in my country as being purposely delivered to every single federal politician, in an attempt to get them to come to understand the reality of the atrocity that is currently happening in Palestine. Other books included the phenomenal ‘hundred years war on Palestine’ I read earlier this year and was blown away by. So I came in maybe expecting (hoping for?) something similarly powerful.
But. This book is not that. And it’s not trying to be. It’s a much smaller story. And genuinely, when it’s in that first part, telling Nabilas first hand experience of the Nakba, it’s pretty powerful, even if purposefully limited in scope. But the 2nd part was the vast majority of this book, and I found my attention hugely wandering. It’s not bad, don’t get me wrong. And I do get its purpose as acting interspersed between the historic horror. But I feel this might (?) have been stronger if these sections were actually small snippets interspersed, instead of essentially being almost all of what is actually a super short book.
Again, I came in under the understanding that a group of authors had decided they believed this book might have the power to sway political minds, maybe even shift the Overton window. But it’s… really not. I struggle to picture in my mind ANYONE who holds an opinion on Palestine who might read this and actually be swayed to change their opinion.
What I’m saying I guess is, book is fine. Pretty good even. But I came in hoping it might be something more than it is. And that’s totally on me.
I’ll be perfectly honest, I only heard about and so read this book because it was one of the set of books widely publicised in my country as being purposely delivered to every single federal politician, in an attempt to get them to come to understand the reality of the atrocity that is currently happening in Palestine. Other books included the phenomenal ‘hundred years war on Palestine’ I read earlier this year and was blown away by. So I came in maybe expecting (hoping for?) something similarly powerful.
But. This book is not that. And it’s not trying to be. It’s a much smaller story. And genuinely, when it’s in that first part, telling Nabilas first hand experience of the Nakba, it’s pretty powerful, even if purposefully limited in scope. But the 2nd part was the vast majority of this book, and I found my attention hugely wandering. It’s not bad, don’t get me wrong. And I do get its purpose as acting interspersed between the historic horror. But I feel this might (?) have been stronger if these sections were actually small snippets interspersed, instead of essentially being almost all of what is actually a super short book.
Again, I came in under the understanding that a group of authors had decided they believed this book might have the power to sway political minds, maybe even shift the Overton window. But it’s… really not. I struggle to picture in my mind ANYONE who holds an opinion on Palestine who might read this and actually be swayed to change their opinion.
What I’m saying I guess is, book is fine. Pretty good even. But I came in hoping it might be something more than it is. And that’s totally on me.
December 7, 2024
A beautiful and painful telling of the Nakba in 1948 Palestine through the eyes of six-year-old, Nabila. The story also follows Nabila in present day Sydney watching the horrors continue to unfold.
The book conveys so succinctly the longing for the sounds, smells and tastes of home, the grief and the loss, and an unshakeable identity.
A must read, especially for those who can look away and forget what is happening today.
The book conveys so succinctly the longing for the sounds, smells and tastes of home, the grief and the loss, and an unshakeable identity.
A must read, especially for those who can look away and forget what is happening today.
February 26, 2025
Haddad’s story of Nabila Yasmine is beautifully written but far too brief- I wanted so much more from it. The impact of this book comes in the addendum and postscript- in the statistics of atrocities we don’t hear or haven’t grappled with since the heinous acts of Oct 7 2023. A distressingly important read.
February 9, 2025
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Quiet, yet harrowing. An important portrayal of the lingering trauma of a child in the Nakba, with parallels drawn to the Palestinian genocide playing out even now. A year on from the initiation on brutal, indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza, this story is more important now than ever.
Quiet, yet harrowing. An important portrayal of the lingering trauma of a child in the Nakba, with parallels drawn to the Palestinian genocide playing out even now. A year on from the initiation on brutal, indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza, this story is more important now than ever.
January 10, 2025
A short read that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since finishing it. Loved the story of Nabila as an child and then as an older adult finding ways to have hope. And really appreciated the straight forward history outlined at the end to give the reader more context.
March 20, 2025
As soon as I finished this, I had to put the book down to sob. I don't think I've ever cried this hard after reading a book. It's a breathtaking, powerful read that made me feel entirely helpless. I feel like an exposed nerve, I feel gutted, I feel angry, I feel so much despair.
September 22, 2025
It seems only appropriate that I read this on the day Australia recognises the Palestinian state.
A brief but fascinating and beautifully worded work. I feel I could read an entire novel about Nabila Yasmeen.
A brief but fascinating and beautifully worded work. I feel I could read an entire novel about Nabila Yasmeen.
September 27, 2025
The story is simply told but the addendum and postscript pack a devastating punch. There are many books written off injustice, but we are watching this one unfold right in front of us and it has been a long game of chess since the 19C.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews