From the Heart is an appropriate title for this book as Alejandro Modena reveals, with stark emotion, the challenges of growing up in poverty in a mixed and ever-changing culture where the primary imperative was to survive. Jews, Arabs and Christians all lived together in a melting pot that made each day an adventure, not only because of their own differences but because Palestine was occupied by the British Army and the region was at War with the Axis powers.
Modena holds nothing back and graphically describes not only his modest successes but his many weaknesses and failures in dealing with his family, his friends, his classmates and his teachers.
From the Heart is a heartfelt and revealing picture of the thoughts and feelings of a boy who is trying his best to cope with the world that surrounds him. This is a true memoir with the exception that some details have been altered to present a more clear and coherent picture of the events and circumstances surrounding the author's life in Palestine.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alejandro Modena grew up during WWII in a Palestinian town where Jews and Arabs shared poverty and hunger. As conditions worsened, a lucky discovery gave Alex’s family the means to flee the country and emigrate to Cuba. When revolution swept over Cuba, they were forced to flee again; to Jamaica and eventually to the U.S.
Modena holds nothing back and graphically describes not only his modest successes but his many weaknesses and failures in dealing with his family, his friends, his classmates and his teachers.
From the Heart is a heartfelt and revealing picture of the thoughts and feelings of a boy who is trying his best to cope with the world that surrounds him. This is a true memoir with the exception that some details have been altered to present a more clear and coherent picture of the events and circumstances surrounding the author's life in Palestine.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alejandro Modena grew up during WWII in a Palestinian town where Jews and Arabs shared poverty and hunger. As conditions worsened, a lucky discovery gave Alex’s family the means to flee the country and emigrate to Cuba. When revolution swept over Cuba, they were forced to flee again; to Jamaica and eventually to the U.S.
