You Can't Hide the Sun

John McCarthy takes us on an unforgettable journey through a tumultuous and complex landscape. His passion and humanity are all the more remarkable in the context of his own brutal experience of the dark side of its political context.

Tom Bradby, Political Editor, ITV News

From a man who knows much about human spirit’s refusal to be cowed comes a beautifully written, compassionate and insightful account of Israel’s non-Jewish population. You Can’t Hide The Sun does not just champion a people too long bullied, marginalised and ignored – it drives home that without heeding their voice no long term solution of Israel-Palestine is possible.

Tim Butcher, author of Blood River

John McCarthy’s excellent book focuses in on Palestinian citizens of Israel, who sometimes get ignored as a complexity too far. McCarthy doesn’t hide his sympathy for the human beings who have been battered by Middle East conflict. Perhaps that’s because he was caught up in it too when he was held hostage in Lebanon for more than five years between 1986 and 1991. Like Palestinians, and Jews, he longed for the sanctuary of home. McCarthy made it home. But in his journey through Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories he finds Palestinians who are still waiting, hoping and struggling for their homes more than 60 years after Israel was created. Fascinating and timely, and written with the charm of a man who’s still determined to explore the tempestuous region that for five years was just a dream on the other side of his locked cell door.

Jeremy Bowen