Description:
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER
With a message of hope that is both timely and timeless, Upside-Down Love is an extraordinary memoir--irreverent, funny, and profoundly uplifting--of an Israeli lawyer, a Palestinian professor, and a love that transcends all division.
Osama is a Palestinian professor, originally from Gaza, who cannot leave the West Bank city of Ramallah. Sari is an Israeli-American lawyer and long-distance runner who petitions Israel's Supreme Court for his right to travel freely. When the case began, neither expected to fall in love--and when it was over, nobody expected their love to endure.
First published in Hebrew in 2021, Osama and Sari's star-crossed romance--an intimate, vulnerable portrait of an astoundingly resilient Israeli-Palestinian relationship--has since become a beacon of hope in the aftermath of October 7, 2023. Now on its way to becoming an international cult sensation, Upside-Down Love speaks to the unique circumstances of this specific moment in history, while also illustrating a timeless truth: Love will triumph over bigotry and destruction.
Brief description: Fajer Al-Kaisi is an actor for the stage and screen as well as an accomplished voice-over artist and narrator with over a hundred audiobook credits. Fajer is currently the voice of Shazzan on Jellystone (HBO Max) as well as cohost of the podcast BardQuest Empire. His TV appearances include Law & Order, Future Man, The Code, 30 Rock, Nurse Jackie, The Blacklist, The Onion News Network, Person of Interest, Delocated, Search Party, Madam Secretary, and Deadbeat. His film credits include "Karim" in I'll Come Running, "Ali Soufan" in The Report, and as "the interpreter" in Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. His theatrical credits include: Tareq in the Guthrie's production of Nora, Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, Aeneas in Troilus and Cressida at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Grahm/2 in the world premiere of Informed Consent at Cleveland Playhouse, and Shahid the translator in the NYTW world premiere of Aftermath and the subsequent Arktype World tour. His additional regional credits include: The Humans, Disgraced, and The Invisible Hand. Fajer has been nominated for a Drama Leagues Award (Aftermath, Best Ensemble 2011) as well as a finalist for best male performance at the Audies (Fives and Twenty-Fives, 2015). He has also received several AudioFile Earphones Awards.
Review Quotes:
"In a time of great brokenness, along comes this song of possible repair. Sari Bashi's memoir is a powerful and vital indication that the best things can occur, even in the face of all available evidence. Every once in a while we can change our perspective and begin to turn the world upside down."
-- "Colum McCann, National Book Award-winning author of Let the Great World Spin"