Gather the Olives

<p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(5 5 5 1)><em>Gather the Olives</em> is an achingly lovely essay collection that celebrates the multiculturalism of Israel and Palestine lifting up those whose generosity and kindness lights the way to lasting peace. </strong><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>-</strong><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(5 5 5 1)><em>FOREWORD REVIEWS</em></strong></p><p><br></p><p><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Gather the Olives </em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>is a dangerous book. That's because it is about peace in a time when peace in the Holy Land is a faraway even radical notion. It is about hope and food and community and the way there can be solidarity in sharing a meal. Hence the danger: this book might remind its brave readers of how peace is nourished and how hope can't be extinguished.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Over the years Bret Lott-the bestselling author of more than a dozen books including the novel </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Jewel</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> (an Oprah's Book Club selection)-has lived and taught in Jerusalem affording him the opportunity to travel throughout Israel and the surrounding area. Now in </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Gather the Olives</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> this gifted storyteller has brought together a collection of intimate portraits of the people the food and the hope for peace to be found in a region ravaged by war and conflict.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Through meditations on such varied matters as an olive oil cooperative run by Israeli and Palestinian women a non-kosher butcher shop in the middle of upscale-and very kosher-German Colony the nighttime harvesting of olives by Bedouins in downtown Jerusalem a traditional Shabbat dinner at an ancient home within the walls of the Old City a simple yet beautiful plate of fruit in an office in Ramallah Bret Lott considers how food and the people with whom we share it can bring together hearts and souls in a lasting meaningful and peaceful way.</span></p>