Interview | ‘The loss of Palestine defined my father’s life’: author Hannah Lillith Assadi

American writer Hannah Lillith Assadi’s book Paradiso 17 (published by HarperCollins) is a vulnerable portrait of a Palestinian man navigating life, love and loss. The Women’s Prize for Fiction-longlisted novel follows the life of Sufien from when he is a child of five, faced with the forced displacement of his family from their home in Safad. He moves to Kuwait, then to Italy for studies and finally finds a home in the United States. In an email conversation, New York-based Assadi, born to a Jewish mother and a Palestinian father, talks about how Paradiso 17 is the fictionalised story of her father and how the loss of Palestine shaped his life in both tangible and intangible ways. Edited excerpts:

Q: In the acknowledgements, you mention how the book came out of a promise to your late father that you will write his story. What was the process like?