Wandering Star

Wandering Star, J.M.G. LeClezio, Curbstone Press, 2004

Written by the winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize for Literature, this is the story of two young women who meet by chance in the turmoil of the Middle East.

During World War II, Esther is a Jewish girl living in a small town somewhere in southeastern France. The
residents have an uneasy relationship with the Italian troops occupying the town, but they get along. When the Italians surrender and leave the town, the Jews know that the Germans will send them on a one-way trip to a concentration camp. So Esther, and her mother, Elizabeth, and the other Jews in town undertake a harrowing journey on foot through the mountains, to reach the coast, and passage to Jerusalem. Esther constantly worries that her father, who joined the resistance, will never be able to find them again.

After many days journey, carrying whatever they can, they reach the coast, and board a boat heading for Israel. The ship is halted by the authorities, and sent back to France, where the Jews are held for a time, before actually reaching Jerusalem. There, Esther meets a young Palestinian girl named Nejma, a refugee because of the fighting.

In the early days of their time in the camp, the Palestinians treat it like some sort of temporary setback;
after a few days, weeks at the most, they'll be able to return home. The women gather at the local well and gossip like they are already back home. As reality sets in, and they begin to realize that they aren't leaving anytime soon (if ever), hope turns into despair and the feeling that they have been abandoned by the rest of the world. The only thing the Palestinians have to look forward to is the occasional arrival of the UN aid truck. Life becomes a daily struggle for survival. At the end, Nejma leaves the camp with Saadi, a black man who loves her, and wants to take her back to his homeland. As one person's wanderings end, those of another person are just getting underway.

Told in first person by both young women, this is a quiet novel, but it's also a beautifully written novel.
So this is what Nobel-caliber fiction is like. I will make sure to look for more of it.