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.