• Parts: 1
• Subject: Novels
• Year of Publication: 2014
• Edition: First
• Size: 14x20 cm
• Number of Pages: 168
• Weight: 190g
• Language: Arabic
• Author: Zakaria Mohammed
• Publisher: Fadaat Publishing House

In this novel, the events of the Palestinian tragedy intertwine with individual concerns, as the protagonist/narrator and his family live in a vortex of searching, questioning, and waiting for a missing brother under occupation and confronting its daily details. The protagonist is convinced by others of a tale of individual salvation, which in the novel manifests as a search for Ottoman gold left behind during the fall of the Ottoman Empire early last century.

As the protagonist begins his adventure, his sister informs him of news about his missing brother, after having waited for him for about thirty years and given up hope of finding him. During his search, the protagonist meets a marginal character in a café who possesses a reasonable amount of culture. When this person disappears, he receives a short message one day that says: "For shame... you search for gold and forget your brother!" At this, the protagonist stops searching for the gold and focuses all his attention on finding the enigmatic man who surprised him with the message.

A few days later, he receives another message: "Your brother is right under your nose, and you do not see him!!" The brother then begins to appear nightly in the protagonist's dreams, and the latter pursues him until he finds him a year later. The moment he catches him, he suddenly asks: "Are you my brother?" He then takes him from his village in his car, assuring him that he will share the inheritance with him, effectively turning the vagabond into a real brother, with the goal of ending his daily suffering. However, on the way, settlers block their path and open fire, killing the new brother. The protagonist buries him, then goes into the wilderness and lies down by the rocks, searching for the "Shepherd's Staff" flower.

The novel contains multiple narrative levels open to various interpretations, exploring what is left unsaid. As storyteller Youssef Damra says, it possesses a poetic spirit with enough ferocity to plunder and penetrate the depths, signifying countless possible readings.