A Palestinian Prisoner’s Devastating Memoir

Publisher Judith Gurevich and translator Luke Leafgren discuss a remarkable first-person narrative by Nasser Abu Srour, a Palestinian political prisoner who in 1993 was given a life sentence of 215 years. His novel, The Tale of a Wall, tells of the author’s decades-long life in multiple prisons, moving through many historical periods and shifting personal and political lives. The one thing that is always present is the figure of the wall, that becomes his one constant companion. Gurevich and Leafgren tell how they came to acquire the text, and how they came to know this remarkable man through it. The novel itself is a stunning and moving contribution to our understanding of the Palestinan struggle for liberation.