Chopping Onions on My Heart
30 In Stock
An urgent need to find out more becomes an expansive investigation into how to keep hold of her culture – and when to let it goThe daughter of Iraqi Jewish refugees, Samantha grew up surrounded by the noisy, vivid, hot sounds of Judeo-Iraqi Arabic. A language that’s now on the verge of extinction. The realisation that she won’t be able to tell her son he’s ‘living in the days of the aubergines’ or ‘chopping onions on my heart’ opens the floodgates.
The questions keep coming. How can she pass on the stories without passing on the trauma of displacement? Will her son ever love mango pickle? In her search for answers Samantha encounters demon bowls, the perils of kohl and the unexpected joys of fusion food. Her journey transports us from the clamour of Noah’s Ark to the calm of the British Museum, from the Oxford School of Rare Jewish Languages to the banks of the River Tigris.
As Samantha considers what we lose and keep, she also asks what we might need to let go of to preserve our culture and ourselves. This is a life-affirming memoir about resilience and repair, and the healing power of dancing to our ancestors’ music, cooking up their recipes and sharing their stories.
Books and gifts - £4 post and packing per order, UK addresses.
-£25.00 post and packing per order, Overseas addresses.
Art and craft - post and packing individually priced.
Wigtown Voucher -£1.35 for letter UK addresses.
Orders will be shipped by second class postage. Please allow 3 - 5 days for your order to be processed.
CLICK AND COLLECT - we aim to have your order ready for collection within 3 working days, but will email you to let you know when it is available to save you having a wasted journey.
Collection from:
Wigtown Festival Company
11 North Main Street
Wigtown
DG8 9HN
Related Products
From this Collection
-
The Shapeshifter's DaughterNothing, on earth or below it, freezes faste...
Nothing, on earth or below it, freezes faster than the worthless heart. Before she was a hideous monster, the queen of the underworld was simply Hel. But cast as a girl out of lofty Asgard, real...
-
The Last Witch on the KnockIn need of a fresh start, Thomasin lea...
In need of a fresh start, Thomasin leaves her toxic boyfriend, absent father and empty friendships to spend the summer in the Scottish Highlands with her eccentric Aunt Agnes and stern lit...
-
Bothy : In Search of Simple ShelterFrom the rugged cliffs at the northern...
From the rugged cliffs at the northern tip of Scotland to the fairy-tale valleys of Wales, historian Kat Hill tours us across the UK exploring the history of these wild shelters and her fe...
-
Things We Found in the GroundBeginning with their first meeting in ...
Beginning with their first meeting in over 20 years at their grandfather’s home in Lincolnshire, the two cousins – Eleanor and Lucilla – quickly learn that each has a fascination with unea...
-
Bad Attitudes**Pre Order - Published 3rd Se...
**Pre Order - Published 3rd September 2026**
Bad Attitudes is a wickedly dark tale of Scottish council housing and murder. This novella boasts a missin...
-
Awake, AwakeWhat if you can no longer trust your m...
What if you can no longer trust your memories?Mary is struggling with her memory. She does not have too few recollections but too many, including some that are downright absurd. She has ma...
-
Bread and War : A Ukrainian Story of Food, Bravery and HopeHow do you source, cook and take joy i...
How do you source, cook and take joy in food in the midst of war and loss? Food is a weapon, a lifeline, a means of survival. Ukrainian food is also a powerful symbol of national identity ...
-
Curious HistoriesGalloway tales pertaining to quests, b...
Galloway tales pertaining to quests, bogles, sprites, romantic and dolorous incidents, death, curses, wizards, the Holy Grail, public houses, Merlin, and sundry incidents based in truth or...
-
The Wisdom of FarmersAs with his previous bestsellers, John...
As with his previous bestsellers, John Connell skilfully synthesises philosophy, art, literature and spirituality to bolster his thoughts on such topics as stoicism, the food chain and the...
-
A Galloway Year : Impressions of a naturalist and an artistA Galloway Year by Ian Carter and Kare...
A Galloway Year by Ian Carter and Karen Menarry is a beautifully illustrated celebration of the wildlife, landscapes and changing seasons of Galloway in south-west Scotland. Blending evoca...
-
A History of the Novel in Britain**Pre Order - Published 3rd Septembe...
**Pre Order - Published 3rd September 2026**
In this illuminating new history of both an art and an industry, Philip Hensher describes how the evolutionary scrambl...
-
Art Deco Scotland : Design and Architecture in the Jazz AgeArt Deco is a design style infused wit...
Art Deco is a design style infused with glamour and energy. Emerging from the smart metropolises of Paris and New York in the 1920s, its impact quickly spread beyond these cities. A remark...
-
A Long Game : How to Write FictionWarm, wise and full of practical tips,...
Warm, wise and full of practical tips, this book is the ideal guide to every writing life. For anyone who wants to write a novel, or for anyone who loves reading novels. McCracken has be...
-
Travels in another countryUntil relatively modern times Scotland was l...
Until relatively modern times Scotland was largely a Gaelic-speaking nation. Areas that were described by Doctor Johnson in 1775 as being as remote and as unknown as Borneo or Sumatra became one...
-
MUSLIM EUROPEWe travel through Cyprus, Sicily, Malt...
We travel through Cyprus, Sicily, Malta, Portugal and Spain, learning about the continent’s great Caliphate culture and Muslim commonwealth, encountering red-haired European Sultans and Ar...
-
Braver New WorldJohn Kampfner travels to ten countries...
John Kampfner travels to ten countries confronting our shared challenges with bravery and imagination.
- Taiwan's health system achieves 90% patient satisfaction at a f... -
All Wrapped UpAmidst political turmoil on a Caribbea...
Amidst political turmoil on a Caribbean Island, the first assistant director is determined to see his film through -if the chaos doesn't consume them first. Between managing an impossible ...
-
The Millionaire Waltz**Pre-Order - Published 6th Au...
**Pre-Order - Published 6th August 2026**
Many of the themes are encapsulated by the title poem as the narrator readies themself to take the stage and ...
-
brother. do. you. love. me.Reuben, aged 38, was living in a home ...
Reuben, aged 38, was living in a home for adults with learning disabilities and struggling to accept that he had Down's syndrome. Depressed and in a fog of anti-depressants, he hadn't spok...
-
Annie Knows EverythingThanks to her best friend and her own ...
Thanks to her best friend and her own inability to take no for an answer, she manages to talk her way into an opening on another team working on data strategy - whatever that means. So wha...
-
Black Lives in Scotland : Telling Our Stories**Pre Order - Published 30th S...
**Pre Order - Published 30th September 2026**
Do you ever wonder what life was like for the one Black child or few Black children, you knew growing up ...
-
In Search of NowIn Search of Now draws on state-of-th...
In Search of Now draws on state-of-the-art discoveries in neuroscience, psychology, cosmology and quantum physics, revealing a dynamic, creative process in which we all play a part.
Folklore of TreesUncover the myths, legends and secrets of th...
Uncover the myths, legends and secrets of the world’s most iconic trees. Did you know that laurel is said to protect against snakebites and shield against witchcraft? Or that yews are often plan...
A Working MotherA Working Mother is a perfectly crafte...
A Working Mother is a perfectly crafted novel that will enthral, entertain and surprise in equal measure. Our unreliable narrator, Betty – arch, witty, clever – is married with children an...
The Savage LandscapeA lyrical exploration of the world’s m...
A lyrical exploration of the world’s most forbiddingly remote places, the supposedly uninhabited wildernesses of the world – and the humans who have always been there, by award-winning and...
The WaterlandsFrom the award-winning author of The S...
From the award-winning author of The Seafarers and Wintering comes an utterly original and compelling fascinating exploration of the most miraculous substance on Earth: water. It falls in ...
Think Like a ForestBen Rawlence began writing to his elde...
Ben Rawlence began writing to his eldest daughter before she was born, trying to understand what it means to bring a child into a world facing ecological breakdown. Over the next twelve ye...
A Golden World : How the Americas Transformed Renaissance EnglandFrom rumours of lost Amazonian cities ...
From rumours of lost Amazonian cities of gold to the silver running through the mountains of Bolivia, hopes for dazzling wealth fuelled the imperial fantasies of the Tudors and Stuarts. Bu...
TombstoningDavid’s best mate died falling off a c...
David’s best mate died falling off a cliff – and he was the last to see him alive. Fifteen years later, he returns to Arbroath, where another death forces him to face the past. You were t...
A Woman's WorkIn A Woman's Work, Elinor Cleghorn rev...
In A Woman's Work, Elinor Cleghorn reveals the mothers, othermothers, midwives, activists, and community leaders who have shaped this extraordinary history. They include Hildegard of Binge...
Wild History : Journeys into Lost ScotlandYou scramble up over the dunes of an isolate...
You scramble up over the dunes of an isolated beach. You climb to the summit of a lonely hill. You pick your way through the eerie hush of a forest.
And then you find them. The traces of ...
The Coastal ForagerA guide to the edible opportunities of...
A guide to the edible opportunities of North Atlantic coastlines; covering coastal plants, seaweed, shellfish and more, from professional foraging guide and wild-food chef Mark Williams. T...
Assassins and Secret Listeners**Pre Order - Published 1st Oc...
**Pre Order - Published 1st October 2026**
Uncover the story of a nation's hidden heroes. Throughout Britain, all day, every day and in the dead of nig...
Behold, America : A History of America First and the American DreamThe American dream is dead,’ Donald Tr...
The American dream is dead,’ Donald Trump said when announcing his candidacy for president in 2015. How would he revive it? By putting ‘America First’. The ‘American Dream’ and ‘America Fi...
Ayont the Thistle**Pre Order - Published 10th August ...
**Pre Order - Published 10th August 2026**
Russia Starts HerePskov, an old Slavic land of forgotten...
Pskov, an old Slavic land of forgotten stories and faded waysides, has weathered the tides of history. Once a thriving nexus of trade and cultural exchange, today it is one of the poorest ...
No Such Thing As MondaySteffie spends her days working in a d...
Steffie spends her days working in a dry-cleaner’s, trying to scrub the world clean one garment at a time. But no matter how spotless the clothes, she can’t rid herself of the guilt and gr...
Witch TrialTWO TEENAGE...
TWO TEENAGE GIRLS. ONE MURDERED CLASSMATE. AND A MODERN-DAY WITCH TRIAL THAT WILL DIVIDE THE NATION .
As their trial begins and headlines scream ...
The Ship's CatArchie is a canny street cat who has n...
Archie is a canny street cat who has no faith in humans. A cat can only trust himself, after all.
But when he takes shelter from the cold near an airfield, he finds him...
OssiansHe’s the swaggering frontman of The Os...
He’s the swaggering frontman of The Ossians, a Scottish indie band on the brink of signing a major record deal. Desperate to make their mark, they set off on a two-week winter tour across ...
A Woman Named EdithEdith Tudor Hart has long evaded biogr...
Edith Tudor Hart has long evaded biographers. A Jewish-Austrian exile in 1930s London, she was a talented professional photographer, anti-fascist activist—and Soviet secret agent. Daria ...
A Bad, Bad PlaceWhat happened to the dog walker who fo...
What happened to the dog walker who found the body? Glasgow, 1979. Twelve-year-old Janey won’t take her dog, Sid Vicious, for a walk.
Not anymore. It’s Sid’s fault she ...
Victorian Female DetectiveFrom Wilkie Collins to the adventures ...
From Wilkie Collins to the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the traditional image of the Victorian detective is male. Few people realise that women detectives successfully investigated Victo...
A Song Among the StonesIn the 7th century, Irish hermit monks...
In the 7th century, Irish hermit monks left the island of Iona and dared to cross an unforgiving ocean to the wild, unknown shores of Iceland. What did they find there, on the edge of thei...
Looking Down at the StarsDiscover the wonder of marine life see...
Discover the wonder of marine life seen up close in these joyous and sparkling essays. In 2022, Christina Riley became an ‘underwater artist in residence’ at the Argyll Coast Hope Spot – a...
ECLIPSING THE WESTWith a new postscript addressing the c...
With a new postscript addressing the changing global situation under Trump 2.0, this incisive book asks what the rise of the Asian superstates means for the future. The Western-dominated w...
An Inconvenience of PenguinsOn voyages to some of the planet's mos...
On voyages to some of the planet's most inaccessible and challenging landscapes, he recounts the history of our unique relationship with the world's most popular bird, telling not only the...
Like a Cat Loves a BirdThat mercurial quality is found in her...
That mercurial quality is found in her strange, brilliant, cruel novels - with their plots featuring pensioners receiving telephone calls from Death, the devil going clubbing in Peckham an...
A Gift Before DyingAfter a botched high-profile murder in...
After a botched high-profile murder investigation, Sergeant Elderick Cole is exiled to the remote, rugged landscape of Nunavut, a vast territory in the Arctic Circle known for its untamed ...
