Book Details

When 13-year-old Hayaat's grandmother falls gravely ill, she knows that there's only one thing to do. She vows to bring back a handful of soil from Setti Zeinab's ancestral home in occupied Jerusalem, where her grandmother yearns to return to. Taking along her friend Samy, a daredevil troublemaker who dreams of playing football in Italy, they leave their homes in Bethlehem pretending they are going to school. It is the most dangerous and eventful journey of their lives. They must cross the Wall that divides the land with its watchtowers, checkpoints, barbwire and heavy iron gate.

Randa Abdel-Fattah was born in Australia to Egyptian-Palestinian parents and lives in Sydney with her family where she is a practicing lawyer. Her previous books, Does My Head Look Big in This (2005) and Ten Things I Hate About Me (2009), received wide critical acclaim.