City of Oranges

The ancient port of Jaffa, now part of Tel Aviv, was once known as the 'Bride of Palestine'. It was one of the great cosmopolitan cities of the Mediterranean. Once the centre of Palestinian modernity, Jaffa was the country's cultural and political capital.
There Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived, worked, and celebrated together. It was commonplace for the Arabs of Jaffa to attend a wedding at the house of the Jewish Chelouche family and even after 1948 Jews and Arabs gathered at the Jewish-owned spice shop Tiv and the Arab Abulafia family's twenty-four-hour bakery. Through intimate personal interviews and memoirs, letters, and diaries, Adam LeBor gives us a crucial insight into the human lives behind the apparently intractable story of national conflict and a vivid narrative of cataclysmic change. LeBor deftly weaves the personal story of six families, three Jewish and three Arab, into a rich and complex history of Israel and Palestine in the twentieth century.
In a special updated afterword, LeBor returns to Jaffa after ten years to find a city greatly changed by gentrification, demolition and waves of new incomers. Rising prices have scattered communities. The exodus of Jaffa's Arabs continues. But with all the changes, the desire for integration endures. LeBor's magnificent history is a story of hope found in the memories of the Levant's once dazzling mosaic of cultures and communities.

Adam LeBor was born in London and read Arabic, International History and Politics at Leeds University, graduating in 1983, and also studied Arabic at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He worked for several British newspapers before becoming a foreign correspondent in 1991. He has reported from thirty countries, including Israel and Palestine, and covered the Yugoslav wars for The Times and the Independent. Currently Central Europe Correspondent for The Times, he also writes for the Sunday Times, the Economist, Literary Review, Condé Nast Traveller, the Jewish Chronicle, New Statesman and Harry's Place in Britain, and contributes to the Nation and the New York Times in the US. He is the author of six books, including Milosevic and Hitler's Secret Bankers, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. His books have been published in nine languages. Visit him at www.adamlebor.com.
Adam LeBor is the thriller critic of the Financial Times and a veteran former foreign correspondent who lived in Budapest for many years. He is the author of seven novels and eight non-fiction books, including Hitler's Secret Bankers, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. He is an editorial trainer and writing coach for numerous publications and organisations and also writes for the Critic and The Times. He lives in London with his family.