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Farewell to Dejla:
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About the BookCleverly elucidating the somber diaspora of Iraqi Jews, this collection of stories explores the little-publicized migration of a people escaping oppression, only to be confronted with the difficult realities of new nations and customs. Tova Murad Sadka’s work spans Iraq, Israel and the U.S. with beautiful, laconic prose, magnifying the everyday adversity of immigrants. The short stories and novella in Farewell to Dejla, at the same time humorous and poignant, deftly portray characters struggling to cope with drastic social changes: a man about to wed tries in vain to balance family tradition with the munificence of American life; a frail, dying woman prolongs death just long enough to triumphantly take part in the 25th anniversary of the Iraqi immigration to Israel. Each finely crafted story elegantly serves as an exegesis of not only the absurdity of cultural idiosyncrasies, but also the inspiring universal themes of human resilience that transcend differences in gender, nationality, and religion. These moving, impressive stories are based on historic fact inasmuch as they deal with the destruction of the world’s oldest Jewish community. It is estimated that there were 150,000 Jews in Iraq in 1948; Israel has absorbed some 132,000. At the moment, there are about eight Jews remaining in Iraq, half over eighty years old. About the AuthorTova Murad Sadka grew up in Baghdad and immigrated to Israel in 1951 and then to the U.S. in 1967. She has been a correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Davar and freelance correspondent for other newspapers. A graduate from The Hebrew University, Israel, in Journalism and from Queens College, NY, in English Writing, she published two historical novels No Way Back and The Star and Baghdad Scimitar. Presently, Tova Murad Sadka lives in Long Island, New York. |
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