“Too Soon is about what it means to leave home, what it means to return home, and what happens when home is an elusive concept. Sharp, propulsive, and irreverent, this story is profound without ever becoming ponderous—and I haven’t been this excited about a debut novel in a long time.” —Rebecca Makkai, author of I Have Some Questions for You

“Shamieh’s tone—present throughout, but strongest in Arabella’s sections—is confiding and chatty, a Carrie Bradshaw if Carrie had to worry about getting detained at Ben Gurion Airport by Israeli guards for eight hours. But this book isn’t fluffy: Its ethically complex characters carry heavy weights. Shamieh refuses easy moral lessons, aiming for complexity and nuance with a light, voicey touch.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Too Soon braids the lives of three passionate Palestinian women as they move through a turbulent century. From a sparkling harborside home in Jaffa in the forties, to the slums of Detroit in the sixties and the stages of contemporary New York theater, each generation must contend with patriarchy within her community and prejudice from outside it. A deft, honest novel that refuses to shun complexity as it explores the costs of love and motherhood.” —Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize–winning author

“Too Soon is a multi-generational tale of ambition, war, and reinvention. Its fierce and witty narrators are women, grandmother, mother, and daughter, struggling to plot lives and destinies beyond history’s confines. History here is nations at war; history is embattled families; history is expecting wives and daughters to put marriage before art and duty before desire. Arabella, the granddaughter, is a theatre director who stages Shakespeare’s tragedies as if they were comedies and vice versa. This is exactly what Shamieh does in this book. Simplicities disappear. New interpretations and intricacies emerge. A writer outwits the confines of history.” —Margo Jefferson, Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, author of Constructing a Nervous System

“Too Soon is a deeply moving and humorous novel about the Palestinian and Palestinian American experience. Spanning decades and moving back and forth through time, Shamieh’s story explores the lives of three generations of Palestinian women. Through the voices of her unforgettable characters, Shamieh dramatizes a wide range of complex themes, including identity, the meaning of home, war, romance, the creation of art, and the trauma of forced displacement. An exhilarating read.” —Ghassan Zeineddine, author of Dearborn

“An unpredictable and expansive novel of history’s intimate grip on the present. Three generations of Palestinian women fight for their lives, passions, and talents while facing exile, male power, and a corrupt art world. They each strategize survival in specific and recognizable ways, stretching the possible. Betty Shamieh’s characters are real-to-life complex individuals who will keep readers surprised and moved. A book that expands the range of American fiction.” —Sarah Schulman, author of Let the Record Show

“Too Soon is funny, startling, fresh, deeply felt, moving, and full of an important commitment to the complexities of character. It also sings of a subject that is deeply necessary in a way that is new and full of energy. I admire this work.” —Rick Moody, author of The Ice Storm

“This rich saga upends received narratives about motherhood and migration.” —Publishers Weekly