Where Jasmine Blooms: A Novel

Written by Holly S. Warah

Narrated by Johara Al-Rasheed

To the Mansours, an Arab American family living in Seattle, love knows no borders. But despite our best efforts, sometimes love—and family—are foreign to us . . . American-born Margaret Mansour wants nothing more than to rekindle the struggling twenty-year marriage to her Palestinian husband, Ahmed—but not if it means uprooting their home and children in America and moving halfway across the world. Young and ambitious Alison Mansour has a degree in Near East Studies, but her American education and Syrian background are of no use when her new marriage begins to crumble under the weight of cultural and religious differences. The communication between Alison and her husband is already shaky; how will they cope with the arrival of their first child? Zainab Mansour, the matriarch of her family, never expected to live in America, but after the death of her husband she finds herself lost in a faithless country and lonely within the walls of her eldest son’s home. She wants what’s best for her children but struggles to find her place in a new landscape. Emerging from the interwoven perspectives of these three women comes a story of love and longing, culture and compromise, home and homeland. Exploring the complex political backdrop of the Middle East from a personal perspective, Where Jasmine Blooms travels from the suburbs of Seattle to the villas of Jordan and the refugee camps of the West Bank, on an emotional journey exploring what it means to be a family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Everand Productions
• Release date: Aug 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094424798

Holly S. Warah

Holly S. Warah has traveled widely throughout the Arab world. She has lived in the region for seventeen years and been married into an Arab family for twenty-eight years. Her short fiction has won a national award, first place in The Writer magazine’s 2011 Short Story Contest, as well as several regional awards, including first place in the 2010 Pacific Northwest Writers Association (PNWA) Literary Contest and first place in the 2011 Southwest Writers Writing Contest. Holly has a master’s degree in teaching English as a second language and has taught for more than ten years in Seattle and Dubai, where she now lives.

Reviews for Where Jasmine Blooms

[Jeanetta du Preez · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have mixed feelings. Listened the book to understand the culture and find it interesting. The rest was a bit bland to me.

[Julie Minich-Castro · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book opened a whole New World, explaining the Middle East and cross cultural marriages. It didn’t just share the facts. It shared the raw emotions that come with extended families. Thank you for writing this book!

[Paul Hollen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fascinating insight into life in a cross-cultural family and the joys, trials and tribulations which are shared and overcome or buried. Beautiful writing. Sensitive and touching. Well balanced.

[Joyce Harout · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very very slow. Almost boring! Also very repetitive and a bit too descriptive. I finished it, but it was a struggle.

[Harriet · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it. Gives a lot of insight into the lives of Second generation Arab immigrants.

[Amy Homan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it a lot. The narrarator was fantastic! I learned so much about a different culture

[Becki Basley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An interesting look into a culture I am unfamiliar with but learned to appreciate.

[Betty Bennett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A story of cross-cultural marriage. A woman marries a man who believes and practices a religion unlike her own, is introduced to a new set of cultural norms, and has to come to grips with the fact that insisting to remain as she is will lead to heartache and loneliness

[thelma · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

4.5
I really enjoyed listening to this. Well-told story, heartfelt, felt like real-life story and interesting story line
It gave me a lot of insight into marriages between Arabs and Americans, islamic religion and the arabic language
Also about family, marriage in general
I enjoyed this ??(p.s i am not islam/muslim/arab/american)
If you liked “A woman is no man” i think you would like this as well?

[fatema awami · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The narrator voice is clear and strong but flat. All sounded the same and it was hard to discern whose thoughts were expressed at the beginning.

[gloria glidewell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. It took a little way in to get into it but the slice of normal life infused with interesting characters, cultural clashes laced with love…or not, and the insight of how travel changes and informs thoughts and feelings kept me engaged and wanting more. This picture of a large family was so satisfyingly tied together at the end with character growth and change and outcomes of each of the main characters that felt just right. ❤️

[Val Menzies · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great introduction to Muslim life from the point of view of the mother and her two American daughters in law. I thoroughly enjoyed the story.

[sherri allbritton · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It took me a while to get through this book. Maybe it is a culture thing, idk, but I found myself getting angry at the women for their lack of backbone, the mother for being so intrusive in her children’s relationship and the men for forcing their way of life onto the wives after being wed. My solution to 90% of the whining by the characters is if you hate America so bad then LEAVE. Nobody is making them stay, especially as they are so miserable in “this faithless country”. It is eye opening into a different culture/part of the world and makes me appreciate being American even more!