As a child in pre-First-World-War Palestine, Jabra recalls daily life in Bethlehem and Jerusalem with pin-sharp observation and a vivid use of language. His writing is funny, moving and tender. His Christian family, his school friends and the eccentric characters of the surrounding streets all come to life, and Jabra"s love of the Arabic language comes through, even in translation: "Words glowed in my mind," he writes. "They glittered like gold and sparkled like jewels. I imagined myself walking on coloured silk carpets spread over the waves of a wondrous sea of dreams."