‘Enter Ghost’ talks diaspora through the story of a Palestinian actress

“Enter Ghost,” by award-winning author Isabella Hammad, tells the story of a group of dedicated actors who find themselves pursuing art and life while rehearsing for a production of “Hamlet” in the West Bank.

Sonia Nasir, a British Palestinian actress who hasn’t been to Haifa in more than a decade, decides to return when life in England hits a wall. Whirling from bad decisions, Sonia finds her place among artists who, like her, are seeking out and trying to solidify their identities.

Since the death of her grandparents and the second intifada, Sonia has avoided returning to Palestine. But now that she’s run out of distractions, she faces the inevitability of patching up a fractured relationship with her sister and diving back into a history that holds as much mystery as it does pain. Palestine feels and looks different when she arrives, but there is a deep nostalgia as she stays with her sister, Haneen, while visiting parts of the country she hasn’t seen in years. Ready to relax and heal herself, Sonia’s holiday is interrupted by Mariam, a theater director, who is adamant about Sonia playing Gertrude in her Arabic production of “Hamlet,” in Ramallah.

With political protests, checkpoints, soldiers and a past that continues to lurk in the shadows, the cast of the production struggle to put on a show and Sonia is forced to navigate her role as herself and Gertrude as she’s pushed and pulled in both worlds at the same time.

Unsure of her role in life and in the production, while she and her sister tiptoe around a sensitive past, Sonia must face hard truths. And in a place where politics rule all aspects of life, Sonia attempts to harness some control and finds it’s mostly out of her hands.

In a story about rediscovery, Hammad finds Palestine in “Hamlet,” through her characters, their artistic expression, and their lives under occupation. Sonia, an actress who has played many roles, can in her life become many characters that help her exist as part of the Palestinian diaspora. And in a place where “every family has a Nakba story,” Sonia explores her past, her own pursuit of belonging, and an Israeli occupation that her family has had to navigate for generations. In Hammad’s novel, modern-day Palestine under occupation is still thriving with people, art, and the pursuit of freedom.