Review: Beautifully crafted, tenderly written romance.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 16, 2014
Very rarely does one come across such a beautifully crafted and tenderly written love story. I fell in love at first sight with the two main characters of this book, “The Heart's Melody” by Chava Epstein. The forbidden love story at the core of this book, so lovingly narrated by the writer, is at once emotional and heart wrenching.One truly feels for Noa, the 51 year old Israeli Jewish woman, trying to make sense of her deep longing for the 28 year old Amar, a Palestinian Arab. Theirs is a complete mismatch – with no commonality in culture, religion or even in age. The only thing shared by them is a passionate love for each other.However, sharing a life with each other is not  practical for our star crossed lovers, because of the environment surrounding them, one of pure, unbridled hatred between Israel and Palestine, in which even true love does not stand a chance.This book is not just a love story. In fact the love story is just an excuse used by the writer to explore the two opposing civilizations at great depth, fairly contrasting the Israeli Jewish culture, with the Palestinian Arab culture. Different though their cultures may be, what both Israelis and Palestinians share is a deep love of humanity. Indeed, given a choice, the ordinary people of both nations would just wish to live a normal life, free from any violence or hatred.Finally, I loved the beautiful illustrations in the book, that capture every moment and every turn in Noa and Amar's love story, as much as I loved the writing itself. Chava Epstein is not just a very talented writer, but also a wonderful artist. Definitely a talent to watch out for.