Songs for the Brokenhearted

Tsabari’s (The Art of Leaving) lyrical debut follows Zohara, a bright Jewish Yemeni woman who is at loose ends, newly divorced and stalled out, as she tries to complete her doctoral dissertation. Zohara is determined to distance herself from her past and not return to Israel, but her plans change when her mother dies, and she must travel to Tel Aviv for the funeral. While there, she is exposed again to her Yemeni culture and, through her sister and her mother’s best friend, uncovers surprising family secrets and her late mother’s talent for writing poetry. The novel switches between Zohara’s present-day struggles and the heart-wrenching younger years of her quiet and obedient mother, Saida, who falls deeply in love with Yaqub, another Yemeni immigrant, while in the Israeli migrant camp. Since Saida was married at 13 to a much older man she does not care for, her love for Yaqub is forbidden. Narrators Tsabari, Assaf Cohen, and Yossi Zabari join their voices to tell this story, allowing listeners to track the disparate threads through their elegant narration.