Replenishing the Sea of Galilee: A Family Saga across Ethnicity, Place, and Religion: A Novel

By Wagih Abu-Rish

For fans of, Khaled Hosseini, Anita Diamant, and Isabelle Allende comes a sweeping story of love, loss, and the power of loyalty in the face of conflicting ideologies and religious beliefs. 

The story begins in 1940s Palestine where twins Rasheed and Rasheeda Dinar work in the family’s inns. When Rasheed falls in love with Natalia, a Jewish woman, he applies what he learned from the Jesuit priest who mentored him to his budding relationship but by then relations between Arabs and Jews have become tense. And when those tensions come to a breaking point, Natalia mysteriously disappears, and Rasheed and Rasheeda are chased out of Palestine forced to flee to Beirut, Lebanon.

As the years pass and the Dinar family expands and enters the 1970s, their convictions are tested. Until the family reunites and proves that the thin line separating people because of their differences is powerless against the strength of family, love, and loyalty.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group
• Release date: Aug 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781626348509

Book preview

Reviews for Replenishing the Sea of Galilee

[dgryan1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Replenishing the Sea of Galilee was a book quite different from what I was expecting. The characters and story itself were odd and various scenes were frequently off-putting, bizarre even. I thought the writing was stilted and bland. Overall, this book was a disappointment and I struggled to finish it, something extremely rare for me. I was expecting a book with thematic echoes of Sandy Tolan's wonderful book, The Lemon Tree, but Replenishing the Sea of Galilee did not prompt reflection or new insights in the way Tolan's book did. This one, unfortunately, was not a good match for me.

[bayleaf_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the first times I have not been compelled to read a book to its conclusion. In fact, I found the writing to be so poor and the story to be so incongruous that I couldn’t bring myself to read past the first couple of chapters.The sex scenes alone, bizarre and gratuitous, were enough to have me question why I would want to continue reading. Disappointed, to say the least, because I was interested enough to request this book, I can only say this month’s pick was a bust for me.

[m.belljackson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While there is a lot to recommend for surprising plot developments and many moving smoothly along character awakenings, there are also many improbable challenges.Father Frederico is an amazing addition, not only for his graphic sexual exploits and teachings for the young men and their newly aroused partners, but for his backstory concerning his own father and the Catholic Church. It would have been welcome to learn exactly the content of his religious teachings to a young Muslim man. As well, what were Aisha's thoughts about everything?Details about characters could be better revealed by dialogue than by the narrator telling readers in somewhat stilted language, with many cliche's.Natalia taking a chance on walking alone next to dangerous kibbutz?David not feeling that he was set up with Rasheeda?Natalia not communicating for decades?Why plot so dependent on being very, very rich?And way, way too many easy female orgasms! Reader Alert: do NOT read the back cover - it gives away too much of the story,presenting the entire plot including the ending!