Michelle Cohen Corasanti grew up in a Jewish home where German cars were boycotted and Israeli bonds were abundant. Aside from the blue-and-white tin Jewish National Fund sedakah box in the kitchen and the money her family donated to plant trees in Israel, she learned that post-Holocaust, the Jews found “a land without a people for a people without a land” and made the desert bloom.

Michelle initially attended public school until third grade when she transferred to the Hillel Yeshiva. At the Yeshiva, the most significant lesson she learned was encapsulated by Rabbi Hillel (30BC-10AD), a prominent rabbi of the Talmudic era.

Her debut novel, The Almond Tree, is a beautifully crafted work of fiction that tells the story of a young Palestinian boy, Ahmed, whose mathematical talents allow him to rise above the challenges of life as an Arab Israeli. The novel explores themes of love, hatred, and redemption against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.