]“If people like you and me try to get to know each other the future might have a chance of turning out some other colour than the red of spilt blood and the black of hate.”(p. 33)

This translation of Valerie Zenatti’s short French novel is a fascinating exploration of life on the two sides of the West Bank. Through the eyes of her young adult protagonists, the Israel-Palestine conflict is brought to life for a teenage audience, uncompromising in its portrayal of the pain, frustration, distrust and despair, yet full of hope and promise for a different future.

After a few false notes at the start, I found the writing style lean and involving, bristling with real emotion and evocative imagery. The first-person narrative switches between the Israeli Tal, tenacious and hopeful, and the Palestinian Naim, angry and sharp-tongued, yet secretly vulnerable and sensitive, interspersed with their shared emails, at first guarded, then growing in trust. As such, the novel is a celebration of the power and potential of modern information technology, enabling communication across barriers of barbed wire, cultural difference and historical hatred. Tal herself suggests that “if we could agree on words we could agree on everything”(p. 133), and Message in a Bottle rings with the hope that shared words of empathy and understanding between strangers might succeed where political negotiation has failed.

 At a time when conflict in the Middle East dominates TV news coverage, this seems an important book to add to secondary school resources. Under 160 pages long and written in short chapters, it feels very manageable for whole-class study and with skilful handling should provoke thoughtful questions, strong emotions and rewarding discussion. Teachers may wish to be aware of some occasional (but unobtrusive) swearing, and the first-hand account of a suicide bombing of a bus, an event treated with great sensitivity and lacking any gratuitous description.

2008-04-06