We Had Mansions: Poems

by Mandy Shunnarah

Genres: Poetry

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[Mandy Shunnarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a little biased since I'm the author, but here's why I think We Had Mansions is a five-star read:

- The poems take many different forms. There are visual poems, contrapuntals, broken sonnets, poems as nutrition facts, poems as screenplays, and more.

- The poems follow a narrative arc from my family's immigration from the West Bank in Palestine to the US, to my childhood, to the genocide in Gaza and beyond.

- There are poems about history, family, nature, love, breakups, death, and more.

- Got religious trauma? You'll love the sarcastic, sacrilegious poems.

- Some of the poems have won awards, and several have placed in contests, so you know they're good. :)

- Poetry is powerful. I believe poems have the capacity to change lives, inspire positive action, and change hearts and minds for the better. This is all the more vital given how Palestinian voices are so often censored and silenced.

- We Had Mansions will inspire you to read other Palestinian poets, especially those in Gaza. There are recommendations for further reading in the introduction and in several epigraphs.

I appreciate your interest and hope you enjoy We Had Mansions!

[Krista · Rating 5 out of 5]

We Had Mansions is a stunning poetry collection by Mandy Shunnarah, an Appalachian Palestinian writer whose work hums with inheritance, longing, and deep connection to both land and lineage. These poems navigate what it means to come from a place you’ve never been...to be shaped by Palestine while being born and raised in Alabama...and to carry ancestors, memory, and story inside your own body.

The writing is fierce, tender, and precise. Shunnarah captures the texture of belonging and displacement with such clarity; the South rendered through the eyes of someone whose roots reach across continents. The poems are full of love, humor, grief, and resistance, grounded in a voice that feels both intimate and expansive.

Reading this collection felt like being invited into a living archive, one that honors ancestors while imagining freer futures. I’m so grateful this book exists.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Equally heartwarming and heartbreaking, this poetry collection tells the story of what it means to be Palestinian in all its humanity. A story of love and a story of hope in the darkest times. A story of family and what it looks like for one generation to protect another and the next generation learning to celebrate and preserve their heritage. A story of bravery and fragility coexisting. I can’t recommend this enough!

[Ellen Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mandy is one of the most talented writers I know. It’s an honor to be in community with them. Everyone should read this. Mandy shows us the magic of their ancestors & of Palestine. A stunning debut poetry collection covering the history & ongoing genocide of Palestine & her people, queerness, divorce, & love. I will be returning to this collection again & again.

[Christina Sifri · Rating 5 out of 5]

MASHALLAH