Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite

Until the Walls Come Down by Gal Podjarny is a deeply layered literary novel set in modern-day Israel, where grief, identity, and history collide. After losing her parents in a terrorist attack, Tammar is thrown into another crisis when she learns her childhood home is set for demolition. But what begins as a battle over property becomes a far more personal reckoning when she discovers the house once belonged to her Palestinian husband’s family. As she unites estranged relatives and former enemies to defend their shared heritage, Tammar confronts the layered histories of war, displacement, and reconciliation. Podjarny’s prose is both intimate and sweeping, capturing the emotional complexity of a land where every stone bears witness to competing claims and hard-won peace.

Author Gal Podjarny has written a story with much-needed empathy for our time, placing conflict back in a context we can relate to rather than in the hands of world powers arguing over human lives. What results is a beautifully written exploration of heritage, grief, and contested identity that has a lot of complexity; it’s a story with no clear right or wrong answers, just like life. The narrative focuses on character in warm and exploratory ways, holding nothing back with bold, heartfelt, and deeply human storytelling that gets into every facet of Tammar’s life and the difficult choices she faces. The dialogue and thought presentation lets us deep into her mind and into the emotions of those she clashes with along the way, offering a powerful look at the personal toll of geopolitical conflict from someone with real experience and strong cultural empathy. Slow-paced but timely and gripping, this is a resonant literary novel that discusses the possibility of unity amid division, and that’s a message we need right now more than ever. Overall, Until the Walls Come Down is a highly recommended read for fans of poignant personal drama and those wanting to learn more about conflict in other cultures.