What do you think?
A Country Between: Making a Home Where Both Sides of Jerusalem Collide
"A Country Between reminds us that grief is as indispensable to joy as light is to shadow. Beautifully written, ardent and wise." —Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Secret Chord, People of the Book, and March
Moving her family to a war zone was not a simple choice, but she's determined to find hope, love, and peace amid the conflict in the Middle East.
When young mother Stephanie Saldana finds herself in an empty house at the beginning of Nablus road—the dividing line between East and West Jerusalem—she sees more than a Middle Eastern flash point. She sees what could be home.
Before her eyes, the fragile community of Jerusalem opens, and she starts to build her family to outlast the chaos. But as her son grows, so do the military checkpoints and bomb sirens, and Stephanie must learn to bridge the gap between safety and home, always questioning her choice to start her family and raise her child in a country at war.
A Country Between is a celebration of faith, language, and family—and a mother's discovery of how love can fill the spaces between what was once shattered, leaving us whole once more.
Moving her family to a war zone was not a simple choice, but she's determined to find hope, love, and peace amid the conflict in the Middle East.
When young mother Stephanie Saldana finds herself in an empty house at the beginning of Nablus road—the dividing line between East and West Jerusalem—she sees more than a Middle Eastern flash point. She sees what could be home.
Before her eyes, the fragile community of Jerusalem opens, and she starts to build her family to outlast the chaos. But as her son grows, so do the military checkpoints and bomb sirens, and Stephanie must learn to bridge the gap between safety and home, always questioning her choice to start her family and raise her child in a country at war.
A Country Between is a celebration of faith, language, and family—and a mother's discovery of how love can fill the spaces between what was once shattered, leaving us whole once more.
370 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 7, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
August 28, 2024
An astonishing book—atmospheric and achingly beautiful—much like the impossible city it describes. I’m rarely taken in by memoirs as much as this one. Part of it is having lived in the same neighborhood for 3 years (literally several hundred yards from the author’s Jerusalem home). But it’s more than that. There are numerous passages to savor just for the language alone.
February 13, 2017
In "A Country Between," Stephanie and her husband (their love story alone could have made a whole 'nother book) make a new life in Jerusalem. It's a gorgeous exploration of the historic city that has been so marked by fighting. It's a place of different groups of people pressing against each other and trying to carve out their own place. It's also an incredibly personal story of love and of building a life together. Filled with gorgeous prose, this book brought me to tears by the end - a certain feat!
This book is written as a letter to their first son, Joseph, talking about their new life in this city. Stephanie and her husband never set off to live in Jerusalem but it was as if it called to them. I loved the descriptions of the places in the book. Jerusalem is definitely some place that I would love to visit today and I would love to visit it even more after reading the vivid descriptions in this book. I really loved the descriptions of the people that become the family's family abroad. There are so many different people that make up the fabric of the author's experience.
The writing of the book is gorgeous. There is the travel aspect of the book certainly but there is also a very personal family-oriented bend to the book. There is the love between Stephanie and her husband. The description of how they fall in love is just gorgeous. There were also a lot of good passages on being a parent and the kind of love that relationship between a parent and child imparts. These are the parts that made me teary - so very vivid for someone who is a parent themselves!
This was a great book with great writing! I would love to read more by Saldana in the future!
This book is written as a letter to their first son, Joseph, talking about their new life in this city. Stephanie and her husband never set off to live in Jerusalem but it was as if it called to them. I loved the descriptions of the places in the book. Jerusalem is definitely some place that I would love to visit today and I would love to visit it even more after reading the vivid descriptions in this book. I really loved the descriptions of the people that become the family's family abroad. There are so many different people that make up the fabric of the author's experience.
The writing of the book is gorgeous. There is the travel aspect of the book certainly but there is also a very personal family-oriented bend to the book. There is the love between Stephanie and her husband. The description of how they fall in love is just gorgeous. There were also a lot of good passages on being a parent and the kind of love that relationship between a parent and child imparts. These are the parts that made me teary - so very vivid for someone who is a parent themselves!
This was a great book with great writing! I would love to read more by Saldana in the future!
June 11, 2022
Beautiful, lyrical writing! Saldana mines meaning from conflict, conversations with friendly vendors, and snow on oranges. Her story telling captivated me, along with her occasional lapses into philosophizing and tangling with the paradoxes she lived in.
The book ends with a conversation with her and she restates what she pointed out multiple times in multiple colors in the story: "hope exists even in the darkest places, and there is always beauty to be found, even in the midst of war."
Oh yes--and I love that she was influenced by Naomi Shihab Nye!
The book ends with a conversation with her and she restates what she pointed out multiple times in multiple colors in the story: "hope exists even in the darkest places, and there is always beauty to be found, even in the midst of war."
Oh yes--and I love that she was influenced by Naomi Shihab Nye!
November 15, 2016
A former monk and a woman considering becoming a nun studying Islam in Damascus meet and feel in love. They embark on a new spiritual adventure in Israel, where they settle on Nablus road in the Eastern part of Jerusalem. There, she is trying to learn how to feel and understand the city, while acknowledging the challenges of living in a different world. The life is not easy, as she writes shortly after moving there: 'I was exhausted from living in a place where everything was political, even where you buy your cheese'. The world she sees is mostly from the window of the house on Nablus street: 'The city seemed to exist in contradiction: in some respects, the boundary between two worlds was clear, but in other, it was impossible to understand where one world ended and the other began'. I particularly loved the writing, highly poetic, particularly when it comes to the pregnancy and birth of her children. However, when it comes to going beyond the Nablus road world - the big state of Israel, she is either ignoring completely or prefers to outline repeatedly on the long lines at the checking points - without making an effort to explain or question why those checking points were created. The Israeli reality is highly ignored, although there are a couple of mentions regarding some tensions and violence among Palestinian groups and individuals.
A book recommended for the beautiful writing, but a biased testimony about life in Israel and the political situation, unfortunately.
Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange of an honest review
A book recommended for the beautiful writing, but a biased testimony about life in Israel and the political situation, unfortunately.
Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange of an honest review
February 2, 2025
Absolutely loved this book!
It’s a memoir that speaks poignantly about war, loss, love and hope and puts words to the tensions of holding all of those in one person. Her reflections on the complexities of combining languages, countries, and cultures delighted me. And I so appreciated her attention to details, words, emotions- all captured and portrayed so vividly.
I walked away with fresh inspiration to risk loving and hoping in a world where nothing lasts forever, reminded that loss of a person or place doesn’t make it a wasted experience.
It’s a memoir that speaks poignantly about war, loss, love and hope and puts words to the tensions of holding all of those in one person. Her reflections on the complexities of combining languages, countries, and cultures delighted me. And I so appreciated her attention to details, words, emotions- all captured and portrayed so vividly.
I walked away with fresh inspiration to risk loving and hoping in a world where nothing lasts forever, reminded that loss of a person or place doesn’t make it a wasted experience.
March 11, 2017
The memoir of an American woman living in Jerusalem. Beautiful prose and would love to see her branch out to nonfiction.
July 8, 2020
Sweet memoir with some great stories and wonderful prose (ask my Dh about the siren scene, he laughed and laughed.) Plus, it mentioned one of my heart books.
April 30, 2026
This is a deeply candid and soothing memior. No, ,I have not experienced Saldana's exact circumstances, but who doesn't resonate with trying to find a sense of home in a fractured world , navigating uncertainty, and searching for the extraordinary in the ordinary?
June 16, 2020
This is beautifully written book ,great memoir of extraordinary life and wonderful gift fo author children.
May 22, 2020
If someone had told me that life is unexpected, I would not have guessed that I might one day me married to a priest. But I married a man who spoke to birds, who saw angels appear on trains, and I knew better than to think that life with him would be straightforward. He believed in the physics of grace -- that the smallest amount of hope, balanced against impossible odds, was enough to conquer them.
~~~~
This memoir is written in such lovely language, about such a unique union (a wandering girl meets a Syrian monk in the desert and they fall in love?!), the rich experience of having children, and a highly unusual setting: the dividing line (the seam, as she calls it) between the New and Old Cities in Jerusalem.
~~~~
But now I prayed with Joseph. There is something about praying with a child that is life stripped bare - pure reverence, a boy close enough to his emergence from eternity that he still might remember something of it, and offer it to me.
~~~~
Full of winsome characters (the Arab man who sets up shop on their front stairs, the French nuns who live on the bottom floor of their big house, her sweet father), this tale was written for Saldana's firstborn son, Joseph, to pass along the story of their marriage and of his coming, which coincides with the birthday of the Messiah.
~~~~
I had tried to keep my attachments limited to what I could throw into a suitcase. But it was no longer in my power. I had two children now, and a husband who had climbed down a mountain for me, and a father battling cancer. Loss would come, one day or another. Those are the wages of love. There is no holding it at bay.
~~~~
Saldana recognizes beauty in the small things and even in the painful things. She is attuned the patterns that are passed along from generation to generation within families as a precious heritage that can anchor you in a constantly changing and dangerous world. Even when you are living literally on the line between two warring factions. Reading her heartfelt descriptions, hearing the love and longing for peace within them, I sometimes felt as though I was experiencing holy ground. I could envision the eclectic community on Nablus Road, the flowering trees and the multitude of chattering birds, the dry heat and the scent of the air. Her biblical allusions are ones to savor.
~~~~
So much of parenthood is asking our children to continue a story that was gifted to us at birth, a chain that began long ago, with our own parents and their parents before them. It is a story composed not of language, but of the way an infant is held in the night, of lullabies sung to keep the danger at bay, of oatmeal for breakfast and kisses imprinted into foreheads, of love passed through eternity, gesture by gesture.
~~~~
I cannot imagine anyone not enjoying this compelling story, written with reverence for love and life, and with appreciation for the human and the divine.
~~~~
This memoir is written in such lovely language, about such a unique union (a wandering girl meets a Syrian monk in the desert and they fall in love?!), the rich experience of having children, and a highly unusual setting: the dividing line (the seam, as she calls it) between the New and Old Cities in Jerusalem.
~~~~
But now I prayed with Joseph. There is something about praying with a child that is life stripped bare - pure reverence, a boy close enough to his emergence from eternity that he still might remember something of it, and offer it to me.
~~~~
Full of winsome characters (the Arab man who sets up shop on their front stairs, the French nuns who live on the bottom floor of their big house, her sweet father), this tale was written for Saldana's firstborn son, Joseph, to pass along the story of their marriage and of his coming, which coincides with the birthday of the Messiah.
~~~~
I had tried to keep my attachments limited to what I could throw into a suitcase. But it was no longer in my power. I had two children now, and a husband who had climbed down a mountain for me, and a father battling cancer. Loss would come, one day or another. Those are the wages of love. There is no holding it at bay.
~~~~
Saldana recognizes beauty in the small things and even in the painful things. She is attuned the patterns that are passed along from generation to generation within families as a precious heritage that can anchor you in a constantly changing and dangerous world. Even when you are living literally on the line between two warring factions. Reading her heartfelt descriptions, hearing the love and longing for peace within them, I sometimes felt as though I was experiencing holy ground. I could envision the eclectic community on Nablus Road, the flowering trees and the multitude of chattering birds, the dry heat and the scent of the air. Her biblical allusions are ones to savor.
~~~~
So much of parenthood is asking our children to continue a story that was gifted to us at birth, a chain that began long ago, with our own parents and their parents before them. It is a story composed not of language, but of the way an infant is held in the night, of lullabies sung to keep the danger at bay, of oatmeal for breakfast and kisses imprinted into foreheads, of love passed through eternity, gesture by gesture.
~~~~
I cannot imagine anyone not enjoying this compelling story, written with reverence for love and life, and with appreciation for the human and the divine.
June 16, 2020
Originally published on
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I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway ages ago (in 2017). In a time when Goodreads giveaways were not limited to the US and Canada.
I participated in the giveaway because of the name of the book because I had not known Stephanie Saldana prior to that day (or even after that until I actually read this book now in 2020).
Now to Saldana’s life (as the book is a memoir).
The start was a bit slow because it takes time to get to know the people one is reading about and unlike fiction, not everything in one person’s life can be attractive or interesting to another human being.
But, the story picked up real fast. And past chapter 2, I was completely immersed in the story of Saldana’s life. So much so, that I felt present in all the events of her life she has talked about in her book.
It all started with two people meeting each other in a monastery – one of them a novice monk – and falling in love.
The narrative was engaging in a way that it kept on edge as I anticipated what will happen next while it left me with little historical tidbits here and there which makes me want to visit Jerusalem myself (this is something that is almost impossible with a Pakistani passport).
This is a story of an ordinary woman with many extraordinary ups and downs in her life and how everything seems to be larger than life itself. All the ensuing drama made me want to finish the book in one go but that was impossible for me as there was so much to imbibe from the story of Saldana’s life.
The story of her life flowed seamlessly form one incident to the other despite the fact that the story spans over years and some incidents do swing between Past and Present but it all makes sense in the ensuing chaos of the life of Saldana.
Talking about the historical and political aspect of Palestine and Israel, it was vaguely on the forefront of the world spectrum but it was never real life one’s life events are real. This book and the life Saldana made with her family in A Country Between brought that reality near and it made all the destruction and sadness and the beams of joy in among all those vivid for me in a way it had not been done before.
I am so glad that Stephanie Saldana wrote the book and that I got to read it.
Definitely a 4 star read.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway ages ago (in 2017). In a time when Goodreads giveaways were not limited to the US and Canada.
I participated in the giveaway because of the name of the book because I had not known Stephanie Saldana prior to that day (or even after that until I actually read this book now in 2020).
Now to Saldana’s life (as the book is a memoir).
The start was a bit slow because it takes time to get to know the people one is reading about and unlike fiction, not everything in one person’s life can be attractive or interesting to another human being.
But, the story picked up real fast. And past chapter 2, I was completely immersed in the story of Saldana’s life. So much so, that I felt present in all the events of her life she has talked about in her book.
It all started with two people meeting each other in a monastery – one of them a novice monk – and falling in love.
The narrative was engaging in a way that it kept on edge as I anticipated what will happen next while it left me with little historical tidbits here and there which makes me want to visit Jerusalem myself (this is something that is almost impossible with a Pakistani passport).
This is a story of an ordinary woman with many extraordinary ups and downs in her life and how everything seems to be larger than life itself. All the ensuing drama made me want to finish the book in one go but that was impossible for me as there was so much to imbibe from the story of Saldana’s life.
The story of her life flowed seamlessly form one incident to the other despite the fact that the story spans over years and some incidents do swing between Past and Present but it all makes sense in the ensuing chaos of the life of Saldana.
Talking about the historical and political aspect of Palestine and Israel, it was vaguely on the forefront of the world spectrum but it was never real life one’s life events are real. This book and the life Saldana made with her family in A Country Between brought that reality near and it made all the destruction and sadness and the beams of joy in among all those vivid for me in a way it had not been done before.
I am so glad that Stephanie Saldana wrote the book and that I got to read it.
Definitely a 4 star read.
June 2, 2021
"The sun rose in the east speaking Arabic and set in the west speaking Hebrew, and we tried to find our way in between." Stephanie and Frederic, she a U.S. and he a French citizen, begin their marriage and have their first child on Nablus Road, a dividing line down the middle of Jerusalem. They meet at a Syrian Catholic monastery, before the civil war. Saldana is a beautiful writer, although sometimes she drifts into a bit too much prose poetry for me. She's definitely a romantic but, hey, to survive in a place like Jerusalem - a place I have loved to visit, though I've never lived there - I think you have to be a romantic. She takes you deep into what it's like to live in that strange, violent, holy city: in her words, street vendors, soldiers, doctors, priests, nuns, her husband, and son come alive, and have such depth. So do trees, churches, streets, birds, a piano, even bread. Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Joy, war, suffering, bigotry, hospitality, family. A wonderful and painful memoir, especially if like me, you've left part of your heart behind in Jerusalem.
September 1, 2023
A wonderful book that took my breath away in places. The descriptions of people, places and events are marvellous. It covers faith, hope and despair but ultimately the book is about love. Love between couples, their children, family and friends but a very real joyous love of life. Inspiring and uplifting. Beautiful.
August 21, 2017
A breath-taking memoir of life begun together with her husband (and later children) as they lived just outside the Damascus gate of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is personal, it is beautiful, it is tender. Meaningful to me because I lived not far from there for a semester many years ago. However, I think anyone can find great value in this book. Top two in my books read this year.
July 22, 2018
One of my top favorite books every...period.
March 1, 2019
A memoir of life on the edge . . . literally. The author and her new husband lived at the dividing line between Jewish and Muslim Jerusalem. The writing was absolutely beautiful, and I lost count of the passages that made me stop and ponder. This is one that I will reread.
March 6, 2017
Very interesting and well written. A little too much hearty-flowery talk for me, but I think many people will enjoy this story of different cultures meeting up.
September 28, 2017
When a monk (who is from France) and an American woman who is thinking about becoming a nun while studying Islam in Damascus meet, fall in love and marry, they decide to take a new spiritual adventure in Israel, where they settle on Nablus road in the Eastern part of Jerusalem. She sees her new world mostly from her window and observes the different challenges of life in a very different world. I think the story and the writing was lovely, but I found that the Israeli Reality was largely ignored. (Complaining about the long lines at the checkpoints but nothing about why those checkpoints were created for example).
The writing is lovely...it's a different kind of love story, written to her children who were born in this very conflicted part of the world.
The writing is lovely...it's a different kind of love story, written to her children who were born in this very conflicted part of the world.
November 19, 2017
This is one of the most beautifully written books that I have read in a very long time. She has written prose poetry here and I will reread it again and again. Of course, the subject matter is pertinent now with the moves made by the US regarding Jerusalem but the history of the region is intense and so are her interior thoughts and feelings. I regard her as a fascinatingly creative soul with much to say about her moments on earth. I hope she continues to write with such breathtaking beauty in the future.
June 17, 2024
Saldaña's reflections on becoming a parent, losing a parent, marriage, immigrating - are so beautiful. And a helpful way to learn about Israel/Palestine.
Read
November 6, 2017This memoir is the story of an American woman who was considering becoming a nun in a Syrian monastery. She met a French novice monk there. Eventually, they left and married.
Through a series of unplanned events, they found themselves setting up their first household in Jerusalem. It was near the dividing line between Palestinian and Jewish areas near the Damascus Gate.
"The sun rose in the east speaking Arabic and set in the west speaking Hebrew, and we tried to find our way in between."
This is the story of trying to make a marriage while dealing with your husband's deep grief about leaving the monastery. It is worrying about what might happen every time you leave the house.
"...a great many of the dramas that happen in the Middle East begin with the simple intention of leaving the house to buy vegetables."
This is a very lyrical memoir of their lives in this house. I think that it started too slowly. There was too much information about her childhood. It slowed down the pace of the book. Now I know that there was a first memoir about meeting her husband and the decision to leave the monastery. This was also covered here for those of us who didn't read the first book.
There is some discussion of the larger political issues that affected their day to day lives but mostly she discusses the affect of policy on her street. She discusses roadblocks and violence. She talks about taking her kids to play in touristy areas. Her neighborhood is a microcosm of all the religions that call Jerusalem home.
It can also be funny.
"When the Franciscans came into view in their brown cassocks, Joseph’s face became overcome with wonder. He ran to them and quietly bowed his head. Then he whispered, in solemn greeting, “Heigh-ho. Heigh-ho.”"
Ultimately I would have liked more politics to understand what was happening but that isn't the point of this book. Read this one if you like beautifully written slice of life stories.
"If I can ask you to remember only one thing, then let it be this: keep watch. You have not been born into an easy world. But every now and then, in the midst of our daily lives, a miracle strikes."This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story
November 20, 2018
1-(Nov. 18, 2018) Pleasure: when a book takes you 37 years back to a time and place like no other. Saldaña lived on Nablus Road in Jerusalem, close to Damascus gate. M(ennonite) C(entral) C(ommittee), the volunteer service organization we worked with in Nablus, was located just a bit further north, in the Sheikh Jarra neighborhood. The old stately house contained offices, the apartment of the director and his family and a guest room which was like home, thanks to Jan Siemens. I'm smelling the dry Jerusalem air, the cool tile floors; I see the Jerusalem white stone. (I'm only on page 75).
2-(Nov. 20, 2018) Pleasure: on p 212 (118 tot go) ~ Saldaña's writing has a grounded magic to it, or is it a magical groundedness? Still loving the book. Her life experiences are so different than mine, yet so similar. She muses about the Middle East and what she notices from simply living on Nablus Road; she shares her description of her relationship to her spouse; she tells of her pregnancy in a foreign land; she wonders about Life. And all so fluidly. Geraldine Brooks: "Beautifully written, ardent and wise... If an angel were to write a book, this would be it."
3-(Nov. 215, 2018) Pleasure and pain: I finished reading Saldaña's book. In this last portion, she dealt with loss, well, more than in the earlier sections: her father, priests who had lived in Syria and were targeted and killed for their work, moving. And she also deals with gain: another son born, a daughter born, wisdom of/in life.
Saldaña, an American (more recently French?) and her French husband, both Europeans, lived near Damascus Gate/Bab el-Amud. Her accounts of Life in that geographical location elucidate all the complexities and difficulties and violence of living in that area of our world. The violence can be personal and institutional and sometimes simultaneously both. Yet, hope and beauty are what brings life to her and her community. A great book to read (especially if you have little knowledge of that area of the world.) Julia Alvarez writes: "A book you can't put down. This is a gift of sweetness and light in troubled times."
2-(Nov. 20, 2018) Pleasure: on p 212 (118 tot go) ~ Saldaña's writing has a grounded magic to it, or is it a magical groundedness? Still loving the book. Her life experiences are so different than mine, yet so similar. She muses about the Middle East and what she notices from simply living on Nablus Road; she shares her description of her relationship to her spouse; she tells of her pregnancy in a foreign land; she wonders about Life. And all so fluidly. Geraldine Brooks: "Beautifully written, ardent and wise... If an angel were to write a book, this would be it."
3-(Nov. 215, 2018) Pleasure and pain: I finished reading Saldaña's book. In this last portion, she dealt with loss, well, more than in the earlier sections: her father, priests who had lived in Syria and were targeted and killed for their work, moving. And she also deals with gain: another son born, a daughter born, wisdom of/in life.
Saldaña, an American (more recently French?) and her French husband, both Europeans, lived near Damascus Gate/Bab el-Amud. Her accounts of Life in that geographical location elucidate all the complexities and difficulties and violence of living in that area of our world. The violence can be personal and institutional and sometimes simultaneously both. Yet, hope and beauty are what brings life to her and her community. A great book to read (especially if you have little knowledge of that area of the world.) Julia Alvarez writes: "A book you can't put down. This is a gift of sweetness and light in troubled times."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 11, 2026
I have never understood whether the impulse to continue with the ordinary during times of conflict is resistance, or denial, or a kind of magical thinking that makes us believe that if we pretend that everything is normal, it will be.
{in Arabic} Samud: steadfastness is recognized as the highest virtue, th will to continue living in the midst of despair. p256
we carried the people and paces of our past in our bodies as we carried forward. p49
When Stephanie and Federiic first meet in a remote Syrian-Catholic monastery in the middle of a desert, it changes the trajectory of both their lives. He has spent the last three years in austere training to be a monk. She is considering becoming a nun.
History in the present does not know what will become of it. p271
Instead, and this is no spoiler because it is the prelude of this account, they get married. Their love was a crossing point and according to arcane logic, it made sense for them to settle on a street that had long functioned as a crossing point, situated as it is between east and west Jerusalem, populated mostly by Palestinians.
Nablus Road was not so much a single story as it was a palimpsest, cities and eras written over one another in time, some sections erased, others remaining through a single family, a doorway....No era was truly wiped out, it only became harder to see, among all the clutter and noise....You had to learn to see through the world as it appeared to be into the world as it actually was. p117
Stephanie Saldana brings the raucous street to vivd life as she settles in to domestic life. This book begins as a letter to her yet-to-be-born child and gives voice to all the uncertainty and hope that came with the situation. Her curiosity, tenacity, and profound love of beauty as well as the friends she cultivates, sustain her and give readers a different approach to the conflict there.
Poetry is free...it doesn't have checkpoints. p266
Behind every dark moment, there is hidden another world. The trick is to hold out long enough to make it there. p44
{in Arabic} Samud: steadfastness is recognized as the highest virtue, th will to continue living in the midst of despair. p256
we carried the people and paces of our past in our bodies as we carried forward. p49
When Stephanie and Federiic first meet in a remote Syrian-Catholic monastery in the middle of a desert, it changes the trajectory of both their lives. He has spent the last three years in austere training to be a monk. She is considering becoming a nun.
History in the present does not know what will become of it. p271
Instead, and this is no spoiler because it is the prelude of this account, they get married. Their love was a crossing point and according to arcane logic, it made sense for them to settle on a street that had long functioned as a crossing point, situated as it is between east and west Jerusalem, populated mostly by Palestinians.
Nablus Road was not so much a single story as it was a palimpsest, cities and eras written over one another in time, some sections erased, others remaining through a single family, a doorway....No era was truly wiped out, it only became harder to see, among all the clutter and noise....You had to learn to see through the world as it appeared to be into the world as it actually was. p117
Stephanie Saldana brings the raucous street to vivd life as she settles in to domestic life. This book begins as a letter to her yet-to-be-born child and gives voice to all the uncertainty and hope that came with the situation. Her curiosity, tenacity, and profound love of beauty as well as the friends she cultivates, sustain her and give readers a different approach to the conflict there.
Poetry is free...it doesn't have checkpoints. p266
Behind every dark moment, there is hidden another world. The trick is to hold out long enough to make it there. p44
December 9, 2016
This was a fascinating read of places and experiences most of us will never have.
The author Stephanie, meets her to be husband Frédéric who was in his third and final year as a novitiate soon to become a monk at The Syrian desert monastery Deir Mar Musa, north of Damascus. I have not read the first part of this memoir, which I must do soon, to learn more about their relationship.
The Country Between, takes place when they move out of Syria and are trying to find out where they should live. They end up on Jerusalem's Nablus Road, a fascinating place with a lot of history.
The author writes beautifully, and in a very lyrical way. Her descriptions of places, the people, even the view from their window, of birds and trees created wonderful pictures in my mind, ones that even though I may never go there, I will feel that I have seen.
There are a lot of messages we can take from the authors life and perceptions of it, like hope, forgiveness, strength and the beauty of life as we see it and also in its hardships.
This is a wonderful look at a family being formed, and of families being there for one another throughout ones life, and the closeness and sacrifices they endure for one another..
I cannot wait, to read The Bread of Angels: A Journey to Love and Faith, and I really hope that she will continue on with her families story.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this before its release.
The author Stephanie, meets her to be husband Frédéric who was in his third and final year as a novitiate soon to become a monk at The Syrian desert monastery Deir Mar Musa, north of Damascus. I have not read the first part of this memoir, which I must do soon, to learn more about their relationship.
The Country Between, takes place when they move out of Syria and are trying to find out where they should live. They end up on Jerusalem's Nablus Road, a fascinating place with a lot of history.
The author writes beautifully, and in a very lyrical way. Her descriptions of places, the people, even the view from their window, of birds and trees created wonderful pictures in my mind, ones that even though I may never go there, I will feel that I have seen.
There are a lot of messages we can take from the authors life and perceptions of it, like hope, forgiveness, strength and the beauty of life as we see it and also in its hardships.
This is a wonderful look at a family being formed, and of families being there for one another throughout ones life, and the closeness and sacrifices they endure for one another..
I cannot wait, to read The Bread of Angels: A Journey to Love and Faith, and I really hope that she will continue on with her families story.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this before its release.
June 25, 2017
I loved The Bread of Angels: A Memoir of Love and Faith and was tickled to hear that Stephanie Saldana had a new book picking up where her first book left off.
She describes with real empathy and care the choices and challenges that she and her husband make to discern how they can turn their love for each other into a life. The descriptions of her street in Jerusalem were lush and textured and I truly found those some of the most interesting observations of the book. I also loved and identified with her emotions and experiences as a mother, how great love and great self-doubt coexist.
The only thing I found unconvincing was the decision to move to and stay in Jerusalem. While it's clear that they feel an overwhelming pull to the city, they are also massively complicating their lives without really revealing much in the way of payoffs. Especially how they agonize over the real consequences of their decisions while only giving cursory treatment to their work there (although I can see how they grew in deep relationship with their neighbors) was a little dissatisfying.
On the whole though, it's lovely to hear how this couple is evolving, and how their generous, if unvarnished story of love and sacrifice is playing out.
She describes with real empathy and care the choices and challenges that she and her husband make to discern how they can turn their love for each other into a life. The descriptions of her street in Jerusalem were lush and textured and I truly found those some of the most interesting observations of the book. I also loved and identified with her emotions and experiences as a mother, how great love and great self-doubt coexist.
The only thing I found unconvincing was the decision to move to and stay in Jerusalem. While it's clear that they feel an overwhelming pull to the city, they are also massively complicating their lives without really revealing much in the way of payoffs. Especially how they agonize over the real consequences of their decisions while only giving cursory treatment to their work there (although I can see how they grew in deep relationship with their neighbors) was a little dissatisfying.
On the whole though, it's lovely to hear how this couple is evolving, and how their generous, if unvarnished story of love and sacrifice is playing out.
August 14, 2017
This memoir made me want to travel. Saldana's descriptions of her travels and of her seven years in Jerusalem piqued my interest and made me want to learn more about the Middle East and life in the Holy Land.
Beyond that, this book wasn't anything too special.
And that was my biggest problem with it. Saldana beautifully describes a land and the people that I have never experienced and she is so poetic in talking about her marriage and children. And I really enjoyed reading it. This was a genuinely a fun book and Saldana's writing made it interesting to read. But the story itself was....meh. I realize this is Saldana's life and so she isn't exactly in charge of how it goes, but a series of random vignettes about her life weren't what I was hoping to read in this book.
Ideally, this book would have gotten more in-depth about Jerusalem and her experiences there and adjusting to this land instead of waxing poetic. And Saldana did talk about her experiences and about the land - just not nearly as in-depth as I wanted her to be.
Overall, this is an enjoyable book that's more memoir than travel guide or informative non-fiction. Having read this for a book club, I can see how this is an excellent book club read - especially for married women with children who can identify with some of the author's struggles and perspectives.
Beyond that, this book wasn't anything too special.
And that was my biggest problem with it. Saldana beautifully describes a land and the people that I have never experienced and she is so poetic in talking about her marriage and children. And I really enjoyed reading it. This was a genuinely a fun book and Saldana's writing made it interesting to read. But the story itself was....meh. I realize this is Saldana's life and so she isn't exactly in charge of how it goes, but a series of random vignettes about her life weren't what I was hoping to read in this book.
Ideally, this book would have gotten more in-depth about Jerusalem and her experiences there and adjusting to this land instead of waxing poetic. And Saldana did talk about her experiences and about the land - just not nearly as in-depth as I wanted her to be.
Overall, this is an enjoyable book that's more memoir than travel guide or informative non-fiction. Having read this for a book club, I can see how this is an excellent book club read - especially for married women with children who can identify with some of the author's struggles and perspectives.
June 20, 2017
Beautiful recollections of time spent living near the Damascus Gate, outside the wall, in Jerusalem. Saldana writes it as a letter to her son, sort of a how I met your father, if that were a story of spiritual seekers. The author really brought home life in this community, both as it was occurring, and what it grew from. Fascinating.
From the publishers:
When young mother Stephanie Saldana finds herself in an empty house at the beginning of Nablus road―the dividing line between East and West Jerusalem―she sees more than a Middle Eastern flash point. She sees what could be home.
Before her eyes, the fragile community of Jerusalem opens, and she starts to build her family to outlast the chaos. But as her son grows, so do the military checkpoints and bomb sirens, and Stephanie must learn to bridge the gap between safety and home, always questioning her choice to start her family and raise her child in a country at war.
A Country Between is a celebration of faith, language, and family―and a mother's discovery of how love can fill the spaces between what was once shattered, leaving us whole once more.
From the publishers:
When young mother Stephanie Saldana finds herself in an empty house at the beginning of Nablus road―the dividing line between East and West Jerusalem―she sees more than a Middle Eastern flash point. She sees what could be home.
Before her eyes, the fragile community of Jerusalem opens, and she starts to build her family to outlast the chaos. But as her son grows, so do the military checkpoints and bomb sirens, and Stephanie must learn to bridge the gap between safety and home, always questioning her choice to start her family and raise her child in a country at war.
A Country Between is a celebration of faith, language, and family―and a mother's discovery of how love can fill the spaces between what was once shattered, leaving us whole once more.
January 18, 2020
I've begun to plan the sixth trip - pilgrimage, really - that my husband and I will lead to the Holy Land March of 2021. Staying in and visiting Jerusalem is my favorite part, so I checked out this book on a whim to see if it would alert me to any new and interesting sites.
That's not what it was at all. It's a very moving memoir of an Amercian woman, Stephanie Saldaña, and her life in East Jerusalem with her husband, Frederic Masson, and their three children, Joseph, Sebastien and Carmel. Frederic was in the process of becoming a monk and Stephanie had considered joining a convent when they met, fell in love and decided to marry. Accounts of their marital challenges, along with her worries about pregnancy and parenting, are deftly woven into the tale of a divided city and a country almost constantly at war. It's also a rare glimpse into the lives of non-Moslem Palestinians, Christians with an ancient heritage in Jerusalem that risks being lost.
Not at all what I was expecting, but a wonderful read nonetheless.
That's not what it was at all. It's a very moving memoir of an Amercian woman, Stephanie Saldaña, and her life in East Jerusalem with her husband, Frederic Masson, and their three children, Joseph, Sebastien and Carmel. Frederic was in the process of becoming a monk and Stephanie had considered joining a convent when they met, fell in love and decided to marry. Accounts of their marital challenges, along with her worries about pregnancy and parenting, are deftly woven into the tale of a divided city and a country almost constantly at war. It's also a rare glimpse into the lives of non-Moslem Palestinians, Christians with an ancient heritage in Jerusalem that risks being lost.
Not at all what I was expecting, but a wonderful read nonetheless.
May 31, 2018
Stephanie Saldana, a young American woman, was studying to become a nun in a Syrian monastery. While there, she met and fell in love with a French man (Frederic) who was in his third novice year of becoming a monk. They married and left Syria, settling in the old part of Jerusalem near the Damascus gate, which separates the Palestinian and Jewish areas of the city.
This book is written as a series of letters to Stephanie and Frederic's son, Joseph, who was born in Bethlehem. Saldana writes beautifully of how she met and married her husband, their relationship, her children, her father, and her adopted country of Israel.
I thought this was a very interesting look at what life is currently like living in Jerusalem, the culture, the people, etc. (Saldana and her family still live there.)
This book is written as a series of letters to Stephanie and Frederic's son, Joseph, who was born in Bethlehem. Saldana writes beautifully of how she met and married her husband, their relationship, her children, her father, and her adopted country of Israel.
I thought this was a very interesting look at what life is currently like living in Jerusalem, the culture, the people, etc. (Saldana and her family still live there.)
January 12, 2023
I truly enjoyed reading this book and getting to see a glimpse into Stephanie Saldaña’s life. Stephanie writes about her love story, her religion, and her journey into a vibrant neighborhood of Jerusalem; a neighborhood caught between two realities that often faced war.
She writes on how her youngest son Joseph allowed her to connect with her neighbors.
She wrote, “This mess of identities was the city in which we lived & also a great gift of childhood-that briefest of windows, in which no one could convince us that there was anything dividing us from each other. Through Joseph…a sectarian society… was made whole in the body of a little boy”.
The power of human connection and innocence of childhood could cross the boundaries of forbidden territories. What a wonderful book this was!
She writes on how her youngest son Joseph allowed her to connect with her neighbors.
She wrote, “This mess of identities was the city in which we lived & also a great gift of childhood-that briefest of windows, in which no one could convince us that there was anything dividing us from each other. Through Joseph…a sectarian society… was made whole in the body of a little boy”.
The power of human connection and innocence of childhood could cross the boundaries of forbidden territories. What a wonderful book this was!
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