'Nada Awaar Jarrar grew up in Lebanon but left during the civil war of 1975-1990, living in exile in Australia, England, US, and France. Her most recent novel, A Goodland, is about Lebanese woman who was forced to leave Lebanon because of the war when she was an adolescent, but because she suffers from restorative nostalgia, she returns to Lebanon. Here, Balaa examines the notions of exile, nostalgia, return, and nationalism in Jarrar's novel, wherein the protagonist undergoes a quest for both her personal and national identity.' (Publication abstract)