Hope is a motif in the book, and Amal is a symbol of hope for her family. Losing their homeland, nation, and rights means that hope is a prized notion for Palestinians. Many of the characters undergo great loss and trauma and, through this process, lose hope. However, there are also events and moments when they feel optimistic. The hope for return to Palestine, to their villages and land, sustains them throughout decades of occupation and repression.

Amal is the book’s central character, and her name, with a long second vowel, means “hope” in Arabic. Hasan is explicit about their choice of name for their daughter: “We put all of our hopes into you. Amal, with the long vowel, means hopes, dreams, lots of them” (72). Later, after her parents are dead and her two brothers are gone, the orphaned Amal is given the chance to study in Jerusalem, which represents her remaining family’s hope. Her uncle Darweesh tells her: “The future can’t breathe in a refugee camp, Amal. The air here is too dense for hope. You are being offered a chance to liberate the life that lies dormant in all of us. Take it” (136). Later, hope is almost destroyed for Amal when Majid is killed.