Amal is the book’s protagonist. In Arabic, Amal means “hope,” and she represents her family’s hope for peace and return to Palestine. Although she is born in 1955 in the Jenin refugee camp, her ancestral history is an essential part of her, and she carries the events that happened to her family before her birth. The images and stories of Ein Hod are shared by her grandfather and other family members: “A delicious anticipation bore visions of the old life, the one I had never known. My rightful life, disinherited but finally to be regained” (64-65). Loss and the long-term effects of conflict on individuals are explored through her personality and experiences.

Amal is introduced in the Prelude, which is a flash-forward that establishes her maternal nature, strength, and compassion at the end of her life. In tracing Amal’s journey from birth to death, the narrative sets these expectations early and then explores how Amal develops and grows into this figure. As a child, Amal has a wild and rebellious nature like her mother. She is reprimanded by her community, but at home, she is loved. Amal and Hasan have a mutual adoration for each other, and after his disappearance in 1967, Amal honors his memory with a love of reading and poetry, as well as her growing political awareness and lifelong dedication to the Palestinian cause.