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Damascus Nights
Rafik Schami's award-winning novel. In the classical Arab tradition of tale-telling, here is a magical book that celebrates the power of storytelling, delightfully transformed for modern sensibilities by an award-winning author. The time is present-day Damascus, and Salim the coachman, the city's most famous storyteller, is mysteriously struck dumb. To break the spell, seven friends gather for seven nights to present Salim with seven wondrous "gifts"—seven stories of their own design. Upon this enchanting frame of tales told in the fragrant Arabian night, the words of the past grow fainter, as ancient customs are yielding to modern turmoil. While the hairdresser, the teacher, the wife of t...
A Hand Full of Stars
Amid the turmoil of modern Damascus, one teenage boy finds his political voice in a message of rebellion that echoes throughout Syria and as far away as Western Europe. Inspired by his dearest friend, old Uncle Salim, he begins a journal to record his thoughts and impressions of family, friends, life at school, and his growing feelings for his girlfriend, Nadia. Soon the hidden diary becomes more than just a way to remember his daily adventures; on its pages he explores his frustration with the government injustices he witnesses. His courage and ingenuity finally find an outlet when he and his friends begin a subversive underground newspaper. Warmed by a fine sense of humor, this novel is at once a moving love story and a passionate testimony to the difficult and committed actions being taken by young people around the world.
Sophia
A MASTERPIECE FROM THE BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF THE DARK SIDE OF LOVE -- A murder in Damascus, a love with the power to save a young man’s life… In his latest novel, Rafik Schami ventures to the land of his childhood, where he is now unable to safely return: Syria. As a young girl, Sophia falls deeply in love with Karim, but weds a rich goldsmith instead. A few years later, Karim is accused of an assassination he did not commit and Sophia saves his life. He promises that she will forever have his loyalty, no matter the risk to himself. Long after the incident is buried in memory, Sophia's only son, Salman, returns to Damascus after forty years of exile in Italy; when his photo appears in the newspaper, he is forced into hiding and fears for his life. Remembering Karim’s promise, Sophia decides to call on him for help in spite of the many years that have passed, and the lost opportunity of their once-consuming passion. Set during the tumultuous years leading up to the Arab Spring, Sophia delivers the intricate plotting and lyrical prose that Schami’s readers expect, and reveals the power of love to overcome all barriers of time and circumstance.
Dark Side of Love
A dead man hangs from the portal of St Paul Chapel in Damascus. He was a Muslim officer and he was murdered. But when Detective Barudi sets out to interrogate the man’s mysterious widow, the Secret Service takes the case away from him. Barudi continues to investigate clandestinely and discovers the murderer’s motive: it is a blood feud between the Mushtak and Shahin clans, reaching back to the beginnings of the 20th century. And, linked to it, a love story that can have no happy ending, for reconciliation has no place within the old tribal structures. Rafik Schami dazzling novel spans a century of Syrian history in which politics and religions continue to torment an entire people. Simultaneously, his poetic stories from three generations tell of the courage of lovers who risk death sooner than deny their passions. He has also written a heartfelt tribute to his hometown Damascus and a great and moving hymn to the power of love.
Calligraphers Secret
Even as a young man, Hamid Farsi is acclaimed as a master of the art of calligraphy. But as time goes by, he sees that weaknesses in the Arabic language and its script limit its uses in the modern world. In a secret society, he works out schemes for radical reform, never guessing what risks he is running. His beautiful wife, Noura, is ignorant of the great plans on her husband’s mind. She knows only his cold, avaricious side and so it is no wonder she feels flattered by the attentions of his amusing, lively young apprentice. And so begins a passionate love story of a Muslim woman and a Christian man.
Damascus
Damascus was Rafik Schami's home for twenty-five years before he sought exile in Europe, and this "Pearl of the Orient" is still the city he loves more than any other. Thirty years later, and now a prize-winning novelist, Schami has written a culinary-cultural book on his old home town. Two seemingly insurmountable barriers stood in the way of the writing of it—time and geography. So Schami's sister Marie wandered through Damascus for a year on his behalf, relaying the curiosities, sounds, personalities, tastes, and smells of the Old City while Schami wrote them down, relishing the indelible and diverse mark left on Damascene cuisine by the city's multifarious history. Rafik Schami is the critically acclaimed author ofThe Dark Side of Love (Interlink Books, 2009).
The Storyteller of Damascus
An authentic taste of the old Damascene tradition of storytelling that will inspire children’s imagination. An old storyteller roams through the old quarter of Damascus. For only one piaster, he offers to show the children the wonders of the world. The children look through the peepholes of his magic box, which he carries on his back from one neighborhood to the next. There they see and hear the love story of Sami, the shepherd boy, and the beautiful Leyla. But over time, the story changes… pictures inside the wonder box become old and start to fade away, replaced by cutouts from recent advertisements. A stunningly-illustrated children’s book filled with love, intrigue, courage, loyalty, and the sounds and smells of old Damascus.
The Calligrapher
A modern tale of sexual mores and city life, Edward Docx's debut is a witty novel of spurned lovers, elaborately planned seduction, plotted revenge, and surprising secrets.
Albert & Lila
Once there was a farm where many pigs and many chickens lived in cordial but distant contentment. They were all very polite to each other, but no pig ever played with a chicken and no chicken ever played with a pig. Not, that is, until Albert meets Lila. Both are outcasts: Albert ridiculed because he is the only white pig on the farm and Lila exiled from the henhouse because she is too old to lay eggs. Naturally, the other animals shake their heads over this odd couple. But Albert and Lila don't care. They're having too much fun together. And when they come up with a cunning plan to outwit the fox, they transform the farm into a safe and happy haven filled with friendship and fun for all.
Fatima and the Dream Thief
Fatima accepts the challenge to work for the mean-tempered lord of the castle who steals the dreams of anyone who becomes angry with him.
