In Henna House, Nomi Eve (The Family Orchard) tells the story of Adela Damari, a young girl eventually betrayed by the two people she loves most in the world. As the daughter of a sickly father and an emotionally distant mother, her difficult life begins nearly 100 years ago in Yemen, where she's a member of the Jewish minority in a conservative Muslim nation. Readers follow Adela from age five, when she had little awareness of the social, political and religious forces around her, to her young adulthood, when she plainly understands the influence and power those outside her community have over her life.
Eight-year-old Adela doesn't feel anyone loves and understands her until she meets her cousins Asaf and Hani. Adela is betrothed to Asaf and finally gains the protection she lacks in her conservative society as an unattached young girl. Greater still is the influence Hani's friendship has on Adela's sense of self worth. Hani and her mother, a henna artist of great renown, somehow exist outside the constraints of societal expectations. Covered in beautiful temporary art, their skin is a tapestry of stories. But Hani has a secret, and soon Adela becomes the means and target of a betrayal that tears apart the close-knit community.
Eve writes with a familiarity of character and place. She engages this difficult history with respect, revealing more of the world as Adela's understanding grows. The resulting tension between what readers know and what Adela perceives is a testament to Eve's narrative prowess. --Justus Joseph, bookseller at Elliott Bay Book Company