White Zion migrates between 19th century Yemen, pre-State Israel, modern Israel and modern Canada. Stories explore racism, alienation within the family unit, and the fall-out after generations of war.
In a journey of generations from Aden to Palestine to Ottawa, one Yemenite family encounters new and difficult realities: racism and war, rejection and divorce, resourceful survival and tragic death. With smells of delicious breads wafting up from the page, embroidering detail upon detail in fine literary stitch, Gila Green draws us fully into her narrative, as she generously shares with us the hidden core of family life and the stories she is not afraid to tell.
Yael Unterman, author of The Hidden of Things: Twelve Stories of Love & Longing.
Voices in the collection include Assaf, a Yemenite boy growing up in pre-State Israel, Miriam, a young Canadian girl growing up in Ottawa, and the haunting voice of the girl's uncle, Yoel. A rich vein of family mistrust runs throughout the collection.
White Zion was nominated for the Doris Bakwin Literary Award (Carolina Wren Press), and two of the stories were nominated for the Best New Writing Award and the Walrus Literary Award.
Stories from the collection have been published in Akashic Books Mondays are Murder Series, Fiction Magazine, Many Mountains Moving, The Dalhousie Review, Bridges: A Jewish Feminist Journal, Jewish Fiction, and other literary magazines.
Photo by Nathalie Jolie on Unsplash