We must imagine Jerusalem happy…

A novel about a city and a life, freely inspired by the life of Wasif Jawhariyyeh, neither Palestinian nor Israeli, but a true Jerusalemite; a witness to a time when Christians, Jews and Muslims all said they were people of the Holy Land, where they lived together.

To accompany Wasif Jawhariyyeh, an Arab musician born in Jerusalem in the early 20th century, is to experience the pleasure of losing oneself in the city. Which is in itself an art when the city in question is Jerusalem, that most labyrinthine of metropolises heaving under the weight of its ancient stones and books. The sheer plethora of descriptions have ultimately served to obscure it, for a city is not about its monuments and sacred sites but the men and women who animate it. Following in the footsteps of this little musician cut from the cloth of a grandiose character is to be reminded of this, as tattered memories are stitched together again to a melody improvised on an oud. A unique form of music conveying abiding joy.