Noa Avishag Schnall’s debut book is nominally a travel memoir and photographic account about a road trip: sleeping every night in her car, as she navigates her way solo across Oman.

But Homebound also depicts a deeply personal journey as her daily diaries intertwine with a decades-long family history which slowly unveils itself, powerfully resonating with today’s headlines and political affairs throughout Western Asia. Every step she takes is a step in the past as well as the present.

The journey she shares with the reader is a moving and honest human adventure, both introspective and outgoing.

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“This memoir, brimming with photographs and hand-drawn maps, is based on my daily journaling during a solo road trip along the Omani coast—from the Yemeni border to the Strait of Hormuz. The journey began as a post-quarantine release into the open landscapes of the southern Arabian Peninsula, a region tied to my maternal lineage in Yemen. But as the wayfaring unfolded, and I encountered a spectrum of experiences with those living across Omani territory, the focus gradually shifted—from external exploration to internal processing. What emerged was a meditation on solitude, the consequences of a vacuum in community, and the evolving meaning of home.”

Noa Avishag Schnall