Djamila's Dress

Djamila's Dress is a "Young Adult" novel which traces the journey a 14 year old Jewish girl embarks upon after finding tissue paper covered with faint Arabic writing inserted in the folds of a Palestinian dress she has received as a gift. The story follows Eva's quest to translate the script, and to act upon the plea for help from the writer, Djamila, the Palestinian girl who sewed the dress. Eva encounters help and hindrance both at home and at school, and although the drama that unfolds touches on many large issues - such as the Israeli / Palestinian conflict, Australian anti-terrorism laws, racism, refugees and reconciliation - at the heart of this book is the story of a teenager discovering her own intellectual, ethical and moral capacities as she comes to terms with her father's death two years earlier, and as she teeters on the brink of adulthood.