Here is a NPR piece (All Things Considered, 2006) where Sandy Tolan talks about his book. On that same page, near the bottom, is another link to the original Fresh Air documentary from 1998 (basis of the book).
The Lemon Tree was 11 audible hours and was read by the author. He was very, very good. If you like NPR, you will love his voice/style.
The oldest and I listened to this book, in the car, on the way to and from Charleston, SC.
We both enjoyed it very much. We both learned a lot.
The book weaves the historical events and also follows the lives of two individuals and their families:
Bashir Al-Khayri, a Palestinian (male),
Dalia Ashkenazi Landau, an Israeli (female).
The book starts in 1967 when Bashir knocks on the gate of his former home and Dalia answers the door. The lemon tree (if you are wondering about the title) was planted in the backyard of this home by Bashir's family.
The book then goes back in time to early life in Palestine and also life in Bulgaria (for Dalia's family) and the whole sequence of events that rolled into present day Israel. Presidents Carter and Clinton, all those peace summits, and the cast of characters from the PLO and surrounding countries in the Middle East are all in there. And the happenings of both families are in there too.
There is a LOT of data. We frequently stopped the CD and talked about various points. It was very much an intellectual read. It was a great discussion read.
I am almost 52, oldest is 23. We have little active memory of most of the events in Palestine/Israel. I of course remembered more (first hand) than the oldest. But I did not remember a lot. All kinds of things came back to me as we listened. Oldest has been keeping up on current events in that area more since we finished the book.
And we realized, listening, that we have (mostly) heard the pro-Israeli side of things. We did not realize that Israel has done some really nasty things over the years.
Neither one of us realized that Jewish people were moving into Palestine prior to WWI (yes I, not II).
We knew nothing about the lives of Jews in Bulgaria during WWII.
We loved this book. But again, it is an intellectual read in NPR documentary style.
