"Nostalgic Longing as Healing" examines nostalgia and the various objects associated with it in Diana Abu-Jaber’s 2003 novel Crescent. The prevalence of nostalgic longing in the novel is directly linked to the ways the Iraqi American protagonists process the pain of exile, the loss of loved ones in violent events, and the lasting effects of the Gulf War. Personal memorabilia—collected by the protagonists with the intention of commemorating and establishing links to home and to the past—ultimately function as tools to cope with grief and trauma while living in the present. This process helps the characters reclaim the sense of agency that was stripped away as a result of America’s late-20th c. military intervention in Iraq. This paper features close readings of the novel in relation to the interplay between nostalgia and memorabilia, and it engages with Svetlana Boym’s ideas about nostalgia, Susan Stewart's work on souvenirs and collections, and Pierre Nora’s notion of lieux de mémoire.