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Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies
Tender yet brutal vignettes on a girlhood in Gaza, Palestine, filled with honey and warmth.
Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies is written for those who had to leave—collected remembrances of a childhood in Gaza by a woman far from Palestine’s sun and sea. Overindulgent, chaotic and sentimental, Heba Hayek’s narrator struggles to navigate life in colder, unfamiliar worlds. She holds tightly to memories of home, hoping they will lead back to her sisters and mothers.
With brilliance and grace, Hayek’s vignettes explore the methods of survival nurtured by Palestinian women in the face of colonial occupation and patriarchy—the power of community care, and of loving what’s not meant to be loved. Her reflections reveal the intimate magnificence and quiet devastation of everyday life: a family drive on the shore, waxing for the first time with aunties, or peeling oranges while waiting at a checkpoint.
Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies is written for those who had to leave—collected remembrances of a childhood in Gaza by a woman far from Palestine’s sun and sea. Overindulgent, chaotic and sentimental, Heba Hayek’s narrator struggles to navigate life in colder, unfamiliar worlds. She holds tightly to memories of home, hoping they will lead back to her sisters and mothers.
With brilliance and grace, Hayek’s vignettes explore the methods of survival nurtured by Palestinian women in the face of colonial occupation and patriarchy—the power of community care, and of loving what’s not meant to be loved. Her reflections reveal the intimate magnificence and quiet devastation of everyday life: a family drive on the shore, waxing for the first time with aunties, or peeling oranges while waiting at a checkpoint.
129 pages, Paperback
First published July 29, 2021
9 people are currently reading
693 people want to read
About the author
Heba Hayek
2 books8 followersHeba Hayek is a London-based writer born and raised in Gaza, Palestine. She completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Miami University, Ohio, and is studying for an MA in Social Anthropology at SOAS University of London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
November 18, 2023
Tender, nostalgic vignettes of a childhood growing up in Gaza, often told from the perspective of the narrator looking back from the present, living in exile, each one with an associated song, vignettes accompanied by a playlist.
The little stories are so compelling, I finished them in one sitting and was left wanting to read more. I sincerely hope the author is writing more stories, especially at this time when there is a terrible war happening in her home town. These stories are the anti-thesis of that violent incursion, they speak of family outings to the sea, of friendships, of Aunties, though so many are tinged with reminders that it is almost never without some reference to loss.
The image of the sambac, the tree that filled our back yard with its sweet, creamy scent, appears in my narrator's attempts to create life where this shrub doesn't naturally thrive.
The little stories are so compelling, I finished them in one sitting and was left wanting to read more. I sincerely hope the author is writing more stories, especially at this time when there is a terrible war happening in her home town. These stories are the anti-thesis of that violent incursion, they speak of family outings to the sea, of friendships, of Aunties, though so many are tinged with reminders that it is almost never without some reference to loss.
As the narrator grows into unlikely circumstances away from Gaza, memory is her greenhouse; her way to bring back the voice of the girl who was sacrificed and born in the hands of her identity. At her desk in a flat in Southeast London, she writes of what makes her soul flicker: community love, especially the kind embodied by circles of women and girls.
March 26, 2022
I love the title of this book, it’s what drew me to it. This debut by Heba Hayek is both easy and so difficult to read. Not in the style or the language, just what the author touches upon. A look at what it’s like growing up in a war-torn Palestine. Heba leaves to study abroad and ruminates on her life back home, what it’s like to miss home, and what a home actually mean. She touches upon her childhood and being surrounded by strong women and her father who has rage issues. She touches upon her eating disorder and anxiety but within all that, there are description of blasts, lockdowns, deaths and injuries. Huge fan of this author and will read what she comes out with next.
August 4, 2021
another fucking amazing release from Hajar Press
August 13, 2025
This should be required reading. Devastating and beautiful, and tender. I soaked it all up in a couple of hours. Free Palestine 🇵🇸 if you aren’t angry, you aren’t paying attention.
May 9, 2024
What a privilege to be allowed into such a personal insight as a reader. I will be thinking about the stories in this book in the mundane every day.
August 12, 2021
It’s very paradoxical to say that this book is so easy yet very hard to read, but that’s exactly how I felt going through it’s pages.
Soft, relatable, sad, shocking, and full of love. Heba did a great job combining all of those so effortlessly, and for that alone the book deserves 5 stars.
Soft, relatable, sad, shocking, and full of love. Heba did a great job combining all of those so effortlessly, and for that alone the book deserves 5 stars.
August 15, 2022
Finished this so quickly. One of the most beautiful books I have read. Very poignant and deeply touching.
Heba writes gorgeously and with such an honest and sentimental tone.
Heba writes gorgeously and with such an honest and sentimental tone.
December 21, 2025
I loved this read!! So beautifully written with such delicately crafted descriptions. The playlist is such a unique idea too - I really recommend playing it while reading each chapter, as it elevates the reading experience even more. I would love to read more of Heba Hayek’s writing.
December 15, 2023
Rep: Palestinian sapphic mc, Palestinian side characters, gay side character
CWs: mentions of sexual assault, eating disorder
CWs: mentions of sexual assault, eating disorder
June 7, 2024
deserves all the praises
may we all live to see a free palestine 🇵🇸
may we all live to see a free palestine 🇵🇸
February 25, 2024
This is such a beautiful book! Heba Hayek brought her memories to life here, to the point that it felt like I was living many of them. The simplicity of the language used is great, as it does not distract from her painful but also joyful recollections. It is a book so full of heart.
May 11, 2024
Very short little collection of vignettes about Palestinian girlhood and diaspora. These little stories are so tender and heartfelt and heartbreaking.
April 24, 2022
Beautifully narrated story of growing up in war torn Palestine. Memories of songs, bombings, travels, the richness of culture and food, family.
“You’ve been warned, many times, about many things: border patrol, alcohol, drugs, Ohio, men… but never has anyone warned you about what it’s like to be a war child away from the war.”
“You’ve been warned, many times, about many things: border patrol, alcohol, drugs, Ohio, men… but never has anyone warned you about what it’s like to be a war child away from the war.”
May 19, 2023
I saw this book in the bookshop when I was going to a talk about Palestine. I was drew to it from the cover and the title, and when I flipped it open to read the blurb and read the word 'Palestine', my heart squeezed in the same way it squeezes whenever it does when I see the word Palestine.
I am a queer, half white half Palestinian girl, raised away from the horrors of the war going on in Palestine right now.
Reading this book made me feel incredibly emotional, to experience and feel the world and culture and people I stem from and that runs in my blood. I feel proud. Although of course issues such as the ingrained patriarchy, homophobia trauma and abuse runs within these lives and within the culture, I found myself able to set that aside and appreciate the sheer beauty and community of the Arabs and Muslims living in Gaza. I felt connected to the author, and her beautiful, brilliant writing and description. This book was so easy to devour, I could've read it in a sitting, or a day. Though it hurts and parts are devastating, the book guides you through it. You feel the grief of the war, of the lives, of missing home. No one should have to miss home like this.
Palestinians are erased from the world around us, and I felt reading this book just reminded me that we are out there. I feel that every time someone reads the word, hears about the experience, it helps to un-erase us from a world that seems desperate to make us invisible, to take away our rights, colonise our land. Every time a book is put on display on a shelf that was written by a Palestinian, or about Palestinians, it empowers us.
The fact that the author is so supporting of queer people and (possibly even queer themself?) helped me in a way I can't put into words. Reading the acknowledgement in the back moved me to tears. The feeling of knowing that there are queer arabs, queer Muslims out there, people who support you and have the heritage and the culture, validates me in a way that everyone should feel validated in. I cannot thank the author enough for writing this book and I'm so glad I stumbled across it. It has really, truly impacted me deeply.
It is devastating what Palestinians are going through and this book touches it in such an incredible way. Thank you for making me feel both privileged for growing up how I did but also homesick for the world I didn't grow up in. I think it's good to have a healthy balance of both.
I have underlined, and dog earred, and plan on underlining the shit out of this book. I devoured it so quickly. The description is rich and wonderful.
Sambac beneath unlikely skies is an extraordinary book. Thank you Heba Hayek.
I am a queer, half white half Palestinian girl, raised away from the horrors of the war going on in Palestine right now.
Reading this book made me feel incredibly emotional, to experience and feel the world and culture and people I stem from and that runs in my blood. I feel proud. Although of course issues such as the ingrained patriarchy, homophobia trauma and abuse runs within these lives and within the culture, I found myself able to set that aside and appreciate the sheer beauty and community of the Arabs and Muslims living in Gaza. I felt connected to the author, and her beautiful, brilliant writing and description. This book was so easy to devour, I could've read it in a sitting, or a day. Though it hurts and parts are devastating, the book guides you through it. You feel the grief of the war, of the lives, of missing home. No one should have to miss home like this.
Palestinians are erased from the world around us, and I felt reading this book just reminded me that we are out there. I feel that every time someone reads the word, hears about the experience, it helps to un-erase us from a world that seems desperate to make us invisible, to take away our rights, colonise our land. Every time a book is put on display on a shelf that was written by a Palestinian, or about Palestinians, it empowers us.
The fact that the author is so supporting of queer people and (possibly even queer themself?) helped me in a way I can't put into words. Reading the acknowledgement in the back moved me to tears. The feeling of knowing that there are queer arabs, queer Muslims out there, people who support you and have the heritage and the culture, validates me in a way that everyone should feel validated in. I cannot thank the author enough for writing this book and I'm so glad I stumbled across it. It has really, truly impacted me deeply.
It is devastating what Palestinians are going through and this book touches it in such an incredible way. Thank you for making me feel both privileged for growing up how I did but also homesick for the world I didn't grow up in. I think it's good to have a healthy balance of both.
I have underlined, and dog earred, and plan on underlining the shit out of this book. I devoured it so quickly. The description is rich and wonderful.
Sambac beneath unlikely skies is an extraordinary book. Thank you Heba Hayek.
June 3, 2024
Bittersweet reminiscences sadly ruined by the frequent use of millennial parlance. This really did detract me from the romanticism of the author’s otherwise lyrical descriptions of her homeland. I prefer stories that adhere to the 'show, don't tell' principle; unfortunately, Hayek leans too heavily on 'telling' every single contemporary detail. This muddies the genre—just when you think you’re floating in poetic musings, she drags you back down to the reality you’re trying to escape, to talk about… Frank Ocean and Kim Kardashian! That’s when it starts to read like a very, very bad blog.
I also found the inclusion of one anti-Israel comment quoted from a family member to be jarring and under-explored, as well as some anti-feminist (‘national’?) tropes mentioned from her childhood. Obviously, being a Palestinian refugee, she’s not going to be pro-Israel. And, clearly, she openly adopts a Western mentality when it comes to feminism and sexuality. Expanding on such viewpoints would have provided a richer context and understanding, given where she’s from and where she’s ended up, otherwise they’re just arbitrary diary entries which I don’t care for. I was therefore left confused as to where she stands on all this, given everything she’s mentioned from her past.
Have your say only if you’re consistent and willing to back it up—yes, Western audiences need to be spoon fed.
I believe books act as magical portals to other worlds; Heba Hayek did not succeed in transporting me where I really wanted to go. I guess I’ll have to find my way to the land of the Sambac through another author.
I also found the inclusion of one anti-Israel comment quoted from a family member to be jarring and under-explored, as well as some anti-feminist (‘national’?) tropes mentioned from her childhood. Obviously, being a Palestinian refugee, she’s not going to be pro-Israel. And, clearly, she openly adopts a Western mentality when it comes to feminism and sexuality. Expanding on such viewpoints would have provided a richer context and understanding, given where she’s from and where she’s ended up, otherwise they’re just arbitrary diary entries which I don’t care for. I was therefore left confused as to where she stands on all this, given everything she’s mentioned from her past.
Have your say only if you’re consistent and willing to back it up—yes, Western audiences need to be spoon fed.
I believe books act as magical portals to other worlds; Heba Hayek did not succeed in transporting me where I really wanted to go. I guess I’ll have to find my way to the land of the Sambac through another author.
July 28, 2024
Vignettes of a girlhood in Gaza remembered by a woman navigating a life far from Palestine.
I really loved this one - there’s no plot, it’s really just snapshots of a life, but it was so beautifully imbued with bittersweet longing for home when living in exile, and I think parts will speak to anybody living abroad (whether by choice or not). Our unnamed protagonist spent her childhood in Gaza, and we get reflective glimpses of everyday life as she grew up, from the joys of community despite everything to the horrors and indignities of living under occupation, and we see some of the lasting effects of traumatic childhood experiences. I haven’t seen this explicitly labelled as memoir, but I do get the impression that it is strongly informed by Hayek’s own life and experiences, “auto-fiction” if you will, which brings a richness and devastation to the writing. There’s a suggested playlist to accompany the book (easily found on Spotify) which was an interesting and novel experience for me, adding an extra element to my enjoyment of the book, despite my reading speed not at all matching the song lengths. A beautiful, vivid series of snapshots of the everyday life left behind in Palestine, a home yearned for from exile, a home that still speaks to the soul despite the necessity of leaving.
July 31, 2025
"We mourn when we remember."
Heba Hayek's debut novel is a short collection of beautiful vignettes about girlhood in Palestine and womanhood abroad. Each story reads as a separate piece, interwoven by themes of sisterhood, girlhood, familial love, war, and identity exploration. In a way, Palestine herself becomes a character, with this book as a love letter to Hayek's homeland, capturing the fondness, longing, and complexity of the author's relationship to it.
I wish the vignettes were more cohesive and connected, and told in an order that made more overt sense. The timeline kept jumping around so it could be a bit confusing at times. I'd also consider myself relatively well-educated about Palestine, and even still, I wish Hayek expanded on some concepts that she would casually mention, like the First Intifada, Nakba, etc. to provide more historical context to her personal narratives.
Overall, I found this to be a touching collection of stories that provided more depth to a personal experience of woman in and around Palestine.
Heba Hayek's debut novel is a short collection of beautiful vignettes about girlhood in Palestine and womanhood abroad. Each story reads as a separate piece, interwoven by themes of sisterhood, girlhood, familial love, war, and identity exploration. In a way, Palestine herself becomes a character, with this book as a love letter to Hayek's homeland, capturing the fondness, longing, and complexity of the author's relationship to it.
I wish the vignettes were more cohesive and connected, and told in an order that made more overt sense. The timeline kept jumping around so it could be a bit confusing at times. I'd also consider myself relatively well-educated about Palestine, and even still, I wish Hayek expanded on some concepts that she would casually mention, like the First Intifada, Nakba, etc. to provide more historical context to her personal narratives.
Overall, I found this to be a touching collection of stories that provided more depth to a personal experience of woman in and around Palestine.
January 17, 2022
Heba Hayek’s debut work, published by indie Hajar Press in the UK, is a searing work of growing up in war-torn Palestine. Heba pursuing her studies abroad reminisces about what it means to miss home, what actually is home. She brings to page a childhood surrounded by wonderful and strong women - her mother, grandmother Sitti (one of my favourite characters) and her father with rage issues. She misses home, deals with her eating disorders and anxiety interspersed with loving memories interspersed with painful descriptions about blasts, lockdown, checkpoints, deaths and injuries. There’s a chapter where her mother walks her through virtually the steps of making a little kiss (basbousa- yoghurt semolina cake) which will remain with me for many many years. This is all Heba can do to feel like she’s home and it wrung my heart because I may have had similar problems of not knowing where home is for a really long time while I moved homes in London.
February 5, 2026
🇵🇸 🤍🕊️ This book is a quiet voice that screams yearning. Bitter sweet nostalgia, that comes with having a loving childhood among strong role models, but that same childhood also meant survival and fear that is reflective of life under occupation. Even when you fast forward to the safety of a new start, it is clouded by the reminder of a life in exile, displacement, and feeling like you and your foreignness never truly belong.
Juxtaposing sensory memories like sitting under the sweet smelling Sambac tree while discussing the 2014 Jabaliya massacre, the heaviness of grandmother’s whispered prayers while her healing hands massage olive oil into children’s bodies wrought with tension, the secret wisdoms heard in women-only waxing parties and the degradation of being strip searched in a cold dark room by an Israeli soldier.
The truth is, nothing is more excruciating than placeless pain -Heba Hayek
Juxtaposing sensory memories like sitting under the sweet smelling Sambac tree while discussing the 2014 Jabaliya massacre, the heaviness of grandmother’s whispered prayers while her healing hands massage olive oil into children’s bodies wrought with tension, the secret wisdoms heard in women-only waxing parties and the degradation of being strip searched in a cold dark room by an Israeli soldier.
The truth is, nothing is more excruciating than placeless pain -Heba Hayek
July 25, 2024
i was lucky enough to meet the author of this book with my close friend before she flew away on holiday. I loved this collection of stories. the feeling of reading something and all of a sudden im seeing directly inside the author's mind. the topics discussed here were painful and honest. it made me think of my grandparents and their journey to the uk. theyve been here for years created long lasting physical imprints of their time in the uk and grown their family and yet the uk has never bee home to them. I see the same kind of restlessness within these pages. of course the situations are different but it still springs to mind.
the writing in this collection too feels so organic and so reallll. it feels like im reading a diary entry lol and i love that its just a collection. Just a small window a small insight. the most beautiful pieces of poetry are slices of someone elses life.
the writing in this collection too feels so organic and so reallll. it feels like im reading a diary entry lol and i love that its just a collection. Just a small window a small insight. the most beautiful pieces of poetry are slices of someone elses life.
February 6, 2022
This was recommended by the guy at the bookshop. It’s not something I would have naturally picked up (because of the style in which it was written) but I’m so glad I did.
This was such a touching book with a beautifully curated playlist to complement it. Although simple and short, she shares fragments from the lives of Palestinian women which flow together effortlessly.
As an Iraqi woman, born into a family who fled from the war this book was relatable and made me yearn for a Middle East and Iraq that I’d hear about from parents and relatives... it made me feel a deep sense of nostalgia.
This book is beautifully melancholic, heart-breaking, hopeless but mostly warm and human. The playlist is wonderful and I know I’ll be listening to it a lot! Thanks Heba for the wonderful book.
This was such a touching book with a beautifully curated playlist to complement it. Although simple and short, she shares fragments from the lives of Palestinian women which flow together effortlessly.
As an Iraqi woman, born into a family who fled from the war this book was relatable and made me yearn for a Middle East and Iraq that I’d hear about from parents and relatives... it made me feel a deep sense of nostalgia.
This book is beautifully melancholic, heart-breaking, hopeless but mostly warm and human. The playlist is wonderful and I know I’ll be listening to it a lot! Thanks Heba for the wonderful book.
December 11, 2023
This is an incredibly powerful and beautifully written collection of vignettes about Heba Hayek's experience growing up in Gaza, having to leave her country, surviving multiple wars and occupation, her childhood and adulthood, being a girl, and so much more. The writing is so poetic but accessible at the same time. It's heartbreaking, emotional, raw, and vulnerable, and hopeful too. The description describes it as "Tender yet brutal vignettes on a girlhood in Gaza, Palestine, filled with honey and warmth" which I feel encompasses the soul of the book perfectly. The vignettes (basically a short story shorter than a short story, like 2 or 3 pages) are brief but packed with so much meaning and emotion. An absolute must-read.
January 21, 2024
4.5
Dziewczęce dorastanie w Gazie wypełnione ciepłem, grozą, tęsknotą, obawą, pragnieniem tego, czego pragnąć się nie powinno.
Każdy rozdział posiada dedykowaną piosenkę, która błyskawicznie przenosi nas do gorącego lata w Gazie, obierania pomarańczy w oczekiwaniu przy checkpoincie, lekcji przerywanych bombardowaniami, zimnego Londynu, rodzinnych posiłków.
"My new therapist tells me that I don't always have to adapt. That I actually need to change what might be hurting me, instead of only getting used to it".
"As the narrator grows into unlikely circumstances away from Gaza, memory is her greenhouse; her way to bring back the voice of the girl who was sacrificed and born in the hands of her new identity".
Dziewczęce dorastanie w Gazie wypełnione ciepłem, grozą, tęsknotą, obawą, pragnieniem tego, czego pragnąć się nie powinno.
Każdy rozdział posiada dedykowaną piosenkę, która błyskawicznie przenosi nas do gorącego lata w Gazie, obierania pomarańczy w oczekiwaniu przy checkpoincie, lekcji przerywanych bombardowaniami, zimnego Londynu, rodzinnych posiłków.
"My new therapist tells me that I don't always have to adapt. That I actually need to change what might be hurting me, instead of only getting used to it".
"As the narrator grows into unlikely circumstances away from Gaza, memory is her greenhouse; her way to bring back the voice of the girl who was sacrificed and born in the hands of her new identity".
March 30, 2024
I read this in one go. A beautiful and heartbreaking read, I was completely engrossed.
I’ve been desperately trying to find the right book that I could relate to, written by an immigrant about the issues that come with being so far away from home and the struggles of adjusting to a completely different reality. This is not at all close to my experience, but I’m glad that in my search I came across this.
I’ve been desperately trying to find the right book that I could relate to, written by an immigrant about the issues that come with being so far away from home and the struggles of adjusting to a completely different reality. This is not at all close to my experience, but I’m glad that in my search I came across this.
May 3, 2024
Such a beautifully written booked that I read within a few days which is rare for me. I was lost in the stories, could feel the emotions and felt I was there in the moment. I didn’t want it to end. Educational as well as inspirational depicting what life and struggles are, yet done in a poetic stance. Loved it. Heba Hayek is a stunning writer, who as a woman draws you in so you feel part of her journey.
July 25, 2024
In these times, seeing Gaza so affectionately through Heba’s eyes is a bittersweet experience. SBUS is a gorgeous selection of vignettes rooted in home and family. Heba’s writing is tender and engaging. I flew through it in a day or two, always excited to read the next chapter. I love works that engage with the idea of home, identity and roots. SBUS is a book to return to over and over again. I look forward to reading future works by Heba. She has a real way with words.
August 13, 2025
“The truth is, nothing is more excruciating than placeless pain.”
Next book for a class at the Newberry. I really appreciated the simplicity of the language— it was beautiful, warm, tender, and heartbreaking all at the same time. Heba Hayek focuses on girlhood in Gaza and what it means to be, as she says, “a child of war away from war.” Her writing is immersive in the way she appeals to all the senses, and the accompanying playlist really adds to that. A quick read, but a memorable one.
Next book for a class at the Newberry. I really appreciated the simplicity of the language— it was beautiful, warm, tender, and heartbreaking all at the same time. Heba Hayek focuses on girlhood in Gaza and what it means to be, as she says, “a child of war away from war.” Her writing is immersive in the way she appeals to all the senses, and the accompanying playlist really adds to that. A quick read, but a memorable one.
November 24, 2023
Softly sad and incredibly tender
Fragmented stories about growing up in Gaza, community love, and navigating life in exile. Each story has an associated song.
Genuinely one of the most intimate and sentimental books I've read this year.
Fragmented stories about growing up in Gaza, community love, and navigating life in exile. Each story has an associated song.
Genuinely one of the most intimate and sentimental books I've read this year.
December 1, 2023
Tender, bittersweet, mournful and achingly beautiful. Thank you Heba Hayek for allowing us & welcoming us into these snapshots, offering small insights into what it is to be a war child, to be displaced, to ache for your home and country.
August 29, 2021
One of the best books I’ve read this year. Every story draws you into the authors world in the most amazing way. I highly recommend everyone reads this !
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews