Going to a campus literary event isn’t usually high on my social calendar, and maybe not on yours, either. But when I heard about this one, I thought it was worth sharing, and here’s why.
I’ve always been drawn to generational stories like “The Prince of Tides,” which move between decades, weaving love and loss until it all comes together in a beautiful ending. When I heard that Ayelet Tsabari’s debut novel “Songs for the Brokenhearted” travels through similar layers of memory and discovery, I was in.
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On Monday, Oct. 27, Washington University’s Department of Jewish, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies will host Tsabari for a reading and conversation about her novel. The event starts with a 5:30 p.m. reception and the program begins at 6 p.m. in Umrath Lounge.
The backstory
Tsabari was born in Israel to a family of Yemeni descent and has spent much of her life abroad, writing in English about a world shaped by Hebrew and Yemenite Arabic. Her debut collection, “The Best Place on Earth,” won the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, and her memoir “The Art of Leaving” earned the Canadian Jewish Literary Award.
Her new novel follows Yemenite immigrants in Israel from the country’s early years to the 1990s, tracing two storylines: a forbidden love in an immigrant camp and a daughter’s search for truth decades later. It’s about love, loss and identity, and the Yemenite women’s songs that echo through both the story and Tsabari’s own heritage.
It’s more than a love story
At the center of the novel is Zohara, a young woman who returns to Israel after her mother’s death and begins uncovering long-buried family secrets. Through her eyes, readers see what it means to search for identity across generations.
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“Tsabari’s novel, more than most, can be read on multiple levels and from different perspectives,” said Nancy Berg, professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at Washington U. “It is a love story, a quest for truth, an exploration of how well we can know another person in general and how well we can know our parents specifically.”
Berg says identity and belonging are central to Zohara’s journey. “Her discovery of the Yemeni women’s literary heritage, the graduate student and scholar plot is immensely satisfying,” she said. “Zohara’s struggles with her ethnic identity, her rejection and eventual embrace of it, offer insight into the position of the minority on a very human level.”
See Israel from the inside
Tsabari’s novel offers a vivid portrait of Israeli life, layered with culture, memory and politics. “Tsabari shows us Israel from the inside, its complicated past and the events leading up to Rabin’s assassination,” Berg said. “Her depiction of these events and the news coverage is so accurate without taking us out of the story.”
The result is a story that blends the personal and the national in ways that feel both intimate and far-reaching, a window into Israeli life rarely seen in English.
Why hearing her matters
Berg believes seeing a writer in person changes how readers experience their work. “When I was in college, my professor brought writers to us,” she said. “Those were some of the most exciting and memorable moments of my four years. Hearing an author speak adds a whole new dimension to their writing.”
So find a parking spot, wander onto campus and give this one a try. You’ll leave a little smarter and maybe even moved.
What: “Songs for the Brokenhearted: A Reading and Conversation with Ayelet Tsabari”
When: Monday, Oct. 27. Reception at 5:30 p.m., program at 6 p.m.
Where: Umrath Lounge, Danforth Campus, Washington University in St. Louis
Admission: Free and open to the public
More info: jimes.wustl.edu/events
