An unforgettable novel about finding a lost piece of yourself in someone else.Khaled Hosseini, the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, has written a new novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations. In this tale revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most. Following its characters and the ramifications of their lives and choices and loves around the globe - from Kabul to Paris to San Francisco to the Greek island of Tinos - the story expands gradually outward, becoming more emotionally complex and powerful with each turning page.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781594631764
|
Hardcover
The Ambassador's Wife
By Steil, Jennifer
From a real-life ambassador's wife comes a harrowing novel about the kidnapping of an American woman in the Middle East and the heartbreaking choices she and her husband each must make in the hope of being reunited. When bohemian artist Miranda falls in love with Finn, the British ambassador to an Arab country, she finds herself thrust into a life for which she has no preparation. The couple and their toddler daughter live in a stately mansion with a staff to meet their every need, but for Miranda even this luxury comes at a price: the loss of freedom. Trailed everywhere by bodyguards to protect her from the dangers of a country wracked by civil war and forced to give up work she loves, she finds her world shattered when she is taken hostage, an act of terror with wide-reaching consequences.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780385539029
|
Hardcover
The Stationery Shop
By Kamali, Marjan
From the award-winning author of Together Tea - a debut novel hailed as "compassionate, funny, and wise" by Jill Davis, bestselling author of Girls' Poker Night - comes a powerful love story exploring loss, reconciliation, and the quirks of fate. Roya is a dreamy, idealistic teenager living in 1953 Tehran who, amidst the political upheaval of the time, finds a literary oasis in kindly Mr. Fakhri's neighborhood book and stationery shop. She always feels safe in his dusty store, overflowing with fountain pens, shiny ink bottles, and thick pads of soft writing paper. When Mr. Fakhri, with a keen instinct for a budding romance, introduces Roya to his other favorite customer - handsome Bahman, who has a burning passion for justice and a love for Rumi's poetry - she loses her heart at once.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781982107499
|
Hardcover
The Beekeeper of Aleppo
By Lefteri, Christy
This unforgettable novel puts human faces on the Syrian war with the immigrant story of a beekeeper, his wife, and the triumph of spirit when the world becomes unrecognizable. "Courageous and provocative, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a beautifully crafted novel of international significance that has the capacity to have us open our eyes and see." - Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of AuschwitzNuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo--until the unthinkable happens. When all they care for is destroyed by war, they are forced to escape. But what Afra has seen is so terrible she has gone blind, and so they must embark on a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece towards an uncertain future in Britain. As Nuri and Afra travel through a broken world, they must confront not only the pain of their own unspeakable loss, but dangers that would overwhelm the bravest of souls. Above all, they must journey to find each other again. Moving, powerful, and beautifully written, The Beekeeper of Aleppo brings home the idea that the most ordinary of lives can be completely upended in unimaginable ways.Advance praise for The Beekeeper of Aleppo "This book dips below the deafening headlines, and tells a true story with subtlety and power." - Esther Freud, author of Mr. Mac and Me "This compelling tale had me gripped with its compassion, its sensual style, and its onward and lively urge for resolution." - Daljit Nagra, author of British Museum "This novel speaks to so much that is happening in the world today. It's intelligent, thoughtful, and relevant, but very importantly it is accessible. I'm recommending this book to everyone I care about." - Benjamin Zephaniah, author of Refugee Boy
Publisher: n/a
|
9781984821218
|
Hardcover
A Thousand Splendid Suns
By Hosseini, Khaled
After 103 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and with four million copies of The Kite Runner shipped, Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel that confirms his place as one of the most important literary writers today. Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love. Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul-they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting, heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781594483851
|
Paperback
Girls of Riyadh
By Alsanea, Rajaa
When Rajaa Alsanea boldly chose to open up the hidden world of Saudi women - their private lives and their conflicts with the traditions of their culture - she caused a sensation across the Arab world. Now in English, Alsanea's tale of the personal struggles of four young upper-class women offers Westerners an unprecedented glimpse into a society often veiled from view. Living in restrictive Riyadh but traveling all over the globe, these modern Saudi women literally and figuratively shed traditional garb as they search for love, fulfillment, and their place somewhere in between Western society and their Islamic home.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780143113478
|
Paperback
House on Endless Waters
By Elon, Emuna
"Elon powerfully evokes the obscurity of the past and its hold on the present, as we stumble through revelation after revelation with Yoel. As we accompany him on his journey...we share in his loss, surprise and grief, right up to the novel's shocking conclusion." - The New York Times Book Review "Emuna Elon's powerful House on Endless Waters is essential Jewish fiction ... a deeply immersive achievement that brings to life stories that must never be forgotten." - USA TODAY "A story of love, loss, and yearning. Lyrically phrased and often powerfully visual ... this deeply felt tale offers a rewarding meditation on survival." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) In the tradition of The Invisible Bridge and The History of Love, comes an exquisitely moving novel about a writer who discovers the truth about his mother's wartime years in Amsterdam, unearthing a shocking family secret that becomes the subject of his magnum opus.At the behest of his agent, renowned author Yoel Blum reluctantly agrees to visit his birthplace of Amsterdam to promote his books, despite promising his late mother that he would never return to that city. While touring the Jewish Historical Museum with his wife, Yoel stumbles upon footage portraying prewar Dutch Jewry and is astonished to see the youthful face of his beloved mother staring back at him, posing with his father, his older sister ... and an infant he doesn't recognize. This unsettling discovery launches him into a fervent search for the truth, shining a light on Amsterdam's dark wartime history - the underground networks that hid Jewish children away from danger and those who betrayed their own for the sake of survival. The deeper into the past Yoel digs to tell the story of his life, the better he understands his mother's silence, and the more urgent the question that has unconsciously haunted him for a lifetime - Who am I? - becomes. Part family mystery, part wartime drama, House on Endless Waters is an unforgettable meditation on identity, belonging, and the inextricable nature of past and present.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781982130220
|
Hardcover
The Devil in Jerusalem
By Ragen, Naomi
Two brothers are admitted to Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital with horrific injuries. Their mother, a young American, devoutly recites Psalms at the bedside, refusing to answer any questions. Brought in to investigate, Detective Bina Tzedek follows a winding path that takes her through Jerusalem's Old City, kabbalists, mystical ancient texts, and terrifying cult rituals, until she finally uncovers the shocking truth.From internationally bestselling author Naomi Ragen, THE DEVIL IN JERUSALEM is a chilling tale of the paths that so easily lead us astray, and the darkness within us all.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781250043139
|
Print book
The Secret Chord
By Brooks, Geraldine
"A page turner. . .Brooks is a master at bringing the past alive. . .in her skillful hands the issues of the past echo our own deepest concerns: love and loss, drama and tragedy, chaos and brutality." - Alice Hoffman, The Washington PostA rich and utterly absorbing novel about the life of King David, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of People of the Book and March. With more than two million copies of her novels sold, New York Times bestselling author Geraldine Brooks has achieved both popular and critical acclaim. Now, Brooks takes on one of literature's richest and most enigmatic figures: a man who shimmers between history and legend. Peeling away the myth to bring David to life in Second Iron Age Israel, Brooks traces the arc of his journey from obscurity to fame, from shepherd to soldier, from hero to traitor, from beloved king to murderous despot and into his remorseful and diminished dotage.The Secret Chord provides new context for some of the best-known episodes of David's life while also focusing on others, even more remarkable and emotionally intense, that have been neglected. We see David through the eyes of those who love him or fear him - from the prophet Natan, voice of his conscience, to his wives Mikhal, Avigail, and Batsheva, and finally to Solomon, the late-born son who redeems his Lear-like old age. Brooks has an uncanny ability to hear and transform characters from history, and this beautifully written, unvarnished saga of faith, desire, family, ambition, betrayal, and power will enthrall her many fans.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780670025770
|
Hardcover
Duet in Beirut
By Ben-david, Mishka
In this riveting thriller by an ex-Mossad agent, an Israeli spy risks his life to save a Hezbollah leader For over a decade, Mishka Ben-David was a professional spy, taking part in secret operations on behalf of the Mossad, Israel's legendary intelligence agency. But after twelve years of service, Ben-David quit the Mossad and became an acclaimed novelist, describing life as a spy from within. A major bestseller in Israel, Duet in Beirut is Ben-David's first book to appear in English. Ronen, an expelled Mossad agent, has disappeared following a failed assassination attempt against the Hezbollah operative responsible for suicide bombings in Israel. Feared to be on an unauthorized mission, it is up to his former commander, Gadi, to track Ronen down and stop him from causing harm both to himself and to his country.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781468310207
|
Hardcover
Asylum City
By Shoham, Liad
In this edgy thriller from the #1 international bestselling author of Lineup, which was described by New York Times bestselling author Joseph Finder as "a marvel of tight plotting, spare prose, and relentless pacing," a young police officer's investigation of a murder plunges her into the dark underworld of Tel Aviv.When young social activist Michal Poleg is found dead in her Tel Aviv apartment, her body showing signs of severe violence, officer Anat Nachmias is given the lead on her first murder investigation. Eager to find answers, the talented and sensitive cop looks to the victim's past for clues, focusing on the last days before her death. Could one of the asylum seekers Michal worked with be behind this crime?Then a young African man confesses to the murder, and Anat's commanders say the case is closed.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780062237538
|
Hardcover
Prince of Fire
By Silva, Daniel
Few recent thriller writers have excited the kind of critical praise that Daniel Silva has, with his novels featuring art restorer and sometime spy Gabriel Allon. Now Allon is back in Venice, when a terrible explosion in Rome leads to a disturbing personal revelation: the existence of a dossier in the hands of terrorists that strips away his secrets, lays bare his history. Hastily recalled home to Israel, drawn once more into the heart of a service he had once forsaken, Gabriel Allon finds himself stalking an elusive master terrorist across a landscape drenched in generations of blood, along a trail that keeps turning in upon itself, until, finally, he can no longer be certain who is stalking whom. And when at last the inevitable showdown comes, it's not Gabriel alone who is threatened with destruction-for it is not his history alone that has been laid bare. A knife-edged thriller of astonishing intricacy and feeling, filled with exhilarating prose, this is Daniel Silva's finest novel yet.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780399152436
|
Hardcover
A Cup of Friendship
By Rodriguez, Deborah
From the author of the ldquobighearted inspiringrdquo Vogue memoir Kabul Beauty School comes a fiction debut as compelling as real life the story of a remarkable coffee shop in the heart of Afghanistan and the men and women who meet theremdashthrown together by circumstance bonded by secrets and united in an extraordinary friendship After hard luck and some bad choices Sunny has finally found a place to call homemdashit just happens to be in the middle of a war zone The thirty-eight-year-old Americanrsquos pride and joy is the Kabul Coffee House where she brings hospitality to the expatriates misfits missionaries and mercenaries who stroll through its doors Shersquos especially grateful that the busy days allow her to forget Tommy the love of her life who left her in pursuit of money and adventure Working alongside Sunny is the maternal Halajan who vividly recalls the days before the Taliban and now must hide a modern romance from her ultratraditional sonmdashwho unbeknownst to her is facing his own religious doubts Into the cafeacute come Isabel a British journalist on the trail of a risky story Jack who left his family back home in Michigan to earn ldquodanger payrdquo as a consultant and Candace a wealthy and well-connected American whose desire to help threatens to cloud her judgment When Yazmina a young Afghan from a remote village is kidnapped and left on a city street pregnant and alone Sunny welcomes her into the cafeacute and gives her a homemdashbut Yazmina hides a secret that could put all their lives in jeopardy As this group of men and women discover that therersquos more to one another than meets the eye theyrsquoll form an unlikely friendship that will change not only their own lives but the lives of an entire country Brimming with Deborah Rodriguezrsquos remarkable gift for depicting the nuances of life in Kabul and filled with vibrant characters that readers will truly care about A Cup of Friendship is the best kind of fictionmdashfull of heart yet smart and thought-provoking.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780345514752
|
Hardcover
The Mullah's Storm
By Young, Thomas W.
An extraordinary debut novel about courage and survival in Afghanistan, written as only a man who has "been there and done that" could tell it. "When you write fiction, your best work may come from what scares you the most," writes airman Thomas W. Young. "When I first flew to Afghanistan, what scared me the most wasn't the thought of getting shot down and killed. It was the thought of getting shot down and not killed. . . ." A transport plane carrying an important Taliban detainee for interrogation is shot down in a blizzard over the Hindu Kush. The storm makes rescue impossible, and for two people - navigator Michael Parson and a woman Army interpreter, Sergeant Gold - a battle for survival begins across some of the most forbidding terrain on earth against not only the hazards of nature, but the treacheries of man: the Taliban stalking them; the villagers, whose loyalty is unknown; and a prisoner who would very much like the three of them to be caught. All Parson and Gold have is each other, to stay alive. It is a novel of relentless pace and constant surprise, not only in the turns of its plot but in the strength and fleetness of its prose. Thomas Young is a writer - and this is the beginning of a brilliant career.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780399156922
|
Hardcover
The Forty Rules of Love
By Shafak, Elif
In this lyrical, exuberant tale, acclaimed Turkish author Elif Shafak, author of The Island of Missing Trees (a Reeses Book Club Pick) , incarnates Rumis timeless message of loveThe Forty Rules of Love unfolds two tantalizing parallel narratives - one contemporary and the other set in the thirteenth century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, the whirling dervish known as Shams of Tabriz - that together explore the enduring power of Rumis work. . Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is to read and report on Sweet Blasphemy, a novel written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerized by his tale of Shamss search for Rumi and the dervishs role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic, passionate poet, and advocate of love. She is also taken with Shamss lessons, or rules, that offer insight into an ancient philosophy based on the unity of all people and religions, and the presence of love in each and every one of us. As she reads on, she realizes that Rumis story mirÂrors her own and that Zahara - like Shams - has come to set her free.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780143118527
|
Paperback
Persepolis
By Satrapi, Marjane
Originally published to wide critical acclaim in France, where it elicited comparisons to Art Spiegelman's Maus, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's wise, funny, and heartbreaking memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran's last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran: of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life and of the enormous toll repressive regimes exact on the individual spirit.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780375422300
|
Hardcover
Salt Houses
By Alyan, Hala
Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR * Nylon * Kirkus Reviews * Bustle * BookPage "Moving and beautifully written." - Entertainment Weekly "[Alyan is] a master." - Los Angeles Review of Books On the eve of her daughter Alia's wedding, Salma reads the girl's future in a cup of coffee dregs. She sees an unsettled life for Alia and her children; she also sees travel and luck. While she chooses to keep her predictions to herself that day, they will all soon come to pass when the family is uprooted in the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967. Lyrical and heartbreaking, Salt Houses follows three generations of a Palestinian family and asks us to confront that most devastating of all truths: you can't go home again. "Beautiful .
Publisher: n/a
|
9781328915856
|
Paperback
The Map of Salt and Stars
By Joukhadar, Jennifer Zeynab
This rich, moving, and lyrical debut novel is to Syria what The Kite Runner was to Afghanistan; the story of two girls living eight hundred years apart - a modern-day Syrian refugee seeking safety and a medieval adventurer apprenticed to a legendary mapmaker - places today's headlines in the sweep of history, where the pain of exile and the triumph of courage echo again and again.It is the summer of 2011, and Nour has just lost her father to cancer. Her mother, a cartographer who creates unusual, hand-painted maps, decides to move Nour and her sisters from New York City back to Syria to be closer to their family. But the country Nour's mother once knew is changing, and it isn't long before protests and shelling threaten their quiet Homs neighborhood. When a shell destroys Nour's house and almost takes her life, she and her family are forced to choose: stay and risk more violence or flee as refugees across seven countries of the Middle East and North Africa in search of safety. As their journey becomes more and more challenging, Nour's idea of home becomes a dream she struggles to remember and a hope she cannot live without. More than eight hundred years earlier, Rawiya, sixteen and a widow's daughter, knows she must do something to help her impoverished mother. Restless and longing to see the world, she leaves home to seek her fortune. Disguising herself as a boy named Rami, she becomes an apprentice to al-Idrisi, who has been commissioned by King Roger II of Sicily to create a map of the world. In his employ, Rawiya embarks on an epic journey across the Middle East and the north of Africa where she encounters ferocious mythical beasts, epic battles, and real historical figures. A deep immersion into the richly varied cultures of the Middle East and North Africa, The Map of Salt and Stars follows the journeys of Nour and Rawiya as they travel along identical paths across the region eight hundred years apart, braving the unknown beside their companions as they are pulled by the promise of reaching home at last.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781501169038
|
Hardcover
The Saffron Kitchen
By Crowther, Yasmin
A passionate and timely debut about mothers and daughters, roots and exile, from the streets of Iran to the suburbs of London In what is certain to be one of the most talked-about fiction debuts of the year, Yasmin Crowther paints a magnificent portrait of betrayal and retribution set against a backdrop of Iran’s tumultuous history, dramatic landscapes, and cultural beauty. The story begins on a blustery day in London, when Maryam Mazar’s dark secrets and troubled past surface violently with tragic consequences for her pregnant daughter, Sara. Burdened by guilt, Maryam leaves her comfortable English home for the remote village in Iran where she was raised and disowned by her father. When Sara decides to follow her she learns the price that her mother had to pay for her freedom and of the love she left behind.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780670038114
|
Hardcover
Mornings in Jenin
By Abulhawa, Susan
A heart-wrenching, powerfully written novel that could do for Palestine what The Kite Runner did for Afghanistan. Forcibly removed from the ancient village of Ein Hod by the newly formed state of Israel in 1948, the Abulhejas are moved into the Jenin refugee camp. There, exiled from his beloved olive groves, the family patriarch languishes of a broken heart, his eldest son fathers a family and falls victim to an Israeli bullet, and his grandchildren struggle against tragedy toward freedom, peace, and home. This is the Palestinian story, told as never before, through four generations of a single family. The very precariousness of existence in the camps quickens life itself. Amal, the patriarch's bright granddaughter, feels this with certainty when she discovers the joys of young friendship and first love and especially when she loses her adored father, who read to her daily as a young girl in the quiet of the early dawn.
And the Mountains Echoed
By Hosseini, Khaled
An unforgettable novel about finding a lost piece of yourself in someone else.Khaled Hosseini, the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, has written a new novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations. In this tale revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most. Following its characters and the ramifications of their lives and choices and loves around the globe - from Kabul to Paris to San Francisco to the Greek island of Tinos - the story expands gradually outward, becoming more emotionally complex and powerful with each turning page.
The Ambassador's Wife
By Steil, Jennifer
From a real-life ambassador's wife comes a harrowing novel about the kidnapping of an American woman in the Middle East and the heartbreaking choices she and her husband each must make in the hope of being reunited. When bohemian artist Miranda falls in love with Finn, the British ambassador to an Arab country, she finds herself thrust into a life for which she has no preparation. The couple and their toddler daughter live in a stately mansion with a staff to meet their every need, but for Miranda even this luxury comes at a price: the loss of freedom. Trailed everywhere by bodyguards to protect her from the dangers of a country wracked by civil war and forced to give up work she loves, she finds her world shattered when she is taken hostage, an act of terror with wide-reaching consequences.
The Stationery Shop
By Kamali, Marjan
From the award-winning author of Together Tea - a debut novel hailed as "compassionate, funny, and wise" by Jill Davis, bestselling author of Girls' Poker Night - comes a powerful love story exploring loss, reconciliation, and the quirks of fate. Roya is a dreamy, idealistic teenager living in 1953 Tehran who, amidst the political upheaval of the time, finds a literary oasis in kindly Mr. Fakhri's neighborhood book and stationery shop. She always feels safe in his dusty store, overflowing with fountain pens, shiny ink bottles, and thick pads of soft writing paper. When Mr. Fakhri, with a keen instinct for a budding romance, introduces Roya to his other favorite customer - handsome Bahman, who has a burning passion for justice and a love for Rumi's poetry - she loses her heart at once.
The Beekeeper of Aleppo
By Lefteri, Christy
This unforgettable novel puts human faces on the Syrian war with the immigrant story of a beekeeper, his wife, and the triumph of spirit when the world becomes unrecognizable. "Courageous and provocative, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a beautifully crafted novel of international significance that has the capacity to have us open our eyes and see." - Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of AuschwitzNuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo--until the unthinkable happens. When all they care for is destroyed by war, they are forced to escape. But what Afra has seen is so terrible she has gone blind, and so they must embark on a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece towards an uncertain future in Britain. As Nuri and Afra travel through a broken world, they must confront not only the pain of their own unspeakable loss, but dangers that would overwhelm the bravest of souls. Above all, they must journey to find each other again. Moving, powerful, and beautifully written, The Beekeeper of Aleppo brings home the idea that the most ordinary of lives can be completely upended in unimaginable ways.Advance praise for The Beekeeper of Aleppo "This book dips below the deafening headlines, and tells a true story with subtlety and power." - Esther Freud, author of Mr. Mac and Me "This compelling tale had me gripped with its compassion, its sensual style, and its onward and lively urge for resolution." - Daljit Nagra, author of British Museum "This novel speaks to so much that is happening in the world today. It's intelligent, thoughtful, and relevant, but very importantly it is accessible. I'm recommending this book to everyone I care about." - Benjamin Zephaniah, author of Refugee Boy
A Thousand Splendid Suns
By Hosseini, Khaled
After 103 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and with four million copies of The Kite Runner shipped, Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel that confirms his place as one of the most important literary writers today. Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love. Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul-they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting, heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love.
Girls of Riyadh
By Alsanea, Rajaa
When Rajaa Alsanea boldly chose to open up the hidden world of Saudi women - their private lives and their conflicts with the traditions of their culture - she caused a sensation across the Arab world. Now in English, Alsanea's tale of the personal struggles of four young upper-class women offers Westerners an unprecedented glimpse into a society often veiled from view. Living in restrictive Riyadh but traveling all over the globe, these modern Saudi women literally and figuratively shed traditional garb as they search for love, fulfillment, and their place somewhere in between Western society and their Islamic home.
House on Endless Waters
By Elon, Emuna
"Elon powerfully evokes the obscurity of the past and its hold on the present, as we stumble through revelation after revelation with Yoel. As we accompany him on his journey...we share in his loss, surprise and grief, right up to the novel's shocking conclusion." - The New York Times Book Review "Emuna Elon's powerful House on Endless Waters is essential Jewish fiction ... a deeply immersive achievement that brings to life stories that must never be forgotten." - USA TODAY "A story of love, loss, and yearning. Lyrically phrased and often powerfully visual ... this deeply felt tale offers a rewarding meditation on survival." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) In the tradition of The Invisible Bridge and The History of Love, comes an exquisitely moving novel about a writer who discovers the truth about his mother's wartime years in Amsterdam, unearthing a shocking family secret that becomes the subject of his magnum opus.At the behest of his agent, renowned author Yoel Blum reluctantly agrees to visit his birthplace of Amsterdam to promote his books, despite promising his late mother that he would never return to that city. While touring the Jewish Historical Museum with his wife, Yoel stumbles upon footage portraying prewar Dutch Jewry and is astonished to see the youthful face of his beloved mother staring back at him, posing with his father, his older sister ... and an infant he doesn't recognize. This unsettling discovery launches him into a fervent search for the truth, shining a light on Amsterdam's dark wartime history - the underground networks that hid Jewish children away from danger and those who betrayed their own for the sake of survival. The deeper into the past Yoel digs to tell the story of his life, the better he understands his mother's silence, and the more urgent the question that has unconsciously haunted him for a lifetime - Who am I? - becomes. Part family mystery, part wartime drama, House on Endless Waters is an unforgettable meditation on identity, belonging, and the inextricable nature of past and present.
The Devil in Jerusalem
By Ragen, Naomi
Two brothers are admitted to Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital with horrific injuries. Their mother, a young American, devoutly recites Psalms at the bedside, refusing to answer any questions. Brought in to investigate, Detective Bina Tzedek follows a winding path that takes her through Jerusalem's Old City, kabbalists, mystical ancient texts, and terrifying cult rituals, until she finally uncovers the shocking truth.From internationally bestselling author Naomi Ragen, THE DEVIL IN JERUSALEM is a chilling tale of the paths that so easily lead us astray, and the darkness within us all.
The Secret Chord
By Brooks, Geraldine
"A page turner. . .Brooks is a master at bringing the past alive. . .in her skillful hands the issues of the past echo our own deepest concerns: love and loss, drama and tragedy, chaos and brutality." - Alice Hoffman, The Washington PostA rich and utterly absorbing novel about the life of King David, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of People of the Book and March. With more than two million copies of her novels sold, New York Times bestselling author Geraldine Brooks has achieved both popular and critical acclaim. Now, Brooks takes on one of literature's richest and most enigmatic figures: a man who shimmers between history and legend. Peeling away the myth to bring David to life in Second Iron Age Israel, Brooks traces the arc of his journey from obscurity to fame, from shepherd to soldier, from hero to traitor, from beloved king to murderous despot and into his remorseful and diminished dotage.The Secret Chord provides new context for some of the best-known episodes of David's life while also focusing on others, even more remarkable and emotionally intense, that have been neglected. We see David through the eyes of those who love him or fear him - from the prophet Natan, voice of his conscience, to his wives Mikhal, Avigail, and Batsheva, and finally to Solomon, the late-born son who redeems his Lear-like old age. Brooks has an uncanny ability to hear and transform characters from history, and this beautifully written, unvarnished saga of faith, desire, family, ambition, betrayal, and power will enthrall her many fans.
Duet in Beirut
By Ben-david, Mishka
In this riveting thriller by an ex-Mossad agent, an Israeli spy risks his life to save a Hezbollah leader For over a decade, Mishka Ben-David was a professional spy, taking part in secret operations on behalf of the Mossad, Israel's legendary intelligence agency. But after twelve years of service, Ben-David quit the Mossad and became an acclaimed novelist, describing life as a spy from within. A major bestseller in Israel, Duet in Beirut is Ben-David's first book to appear in English. Ronen, an expelled Mossad agent, has disappeared following a failed assassination attempt against the Hezbollah operative responsible for suicide bombings in Israel. Feared to be on an unauthorized mission, it is up to his former commander, Gadi, to track Ronen down and stop him from causing harm both to himself and to his country.
Asylum City
By Shoham, Liad
In this edgy thriller from the #1 international bestselling author of Lineup, which was described by New York Times bestselling author Joseph Finder as "a marvel of tight plotting, spare prose, and relentless pacing," a young police officer's investigation of a murder plunges her into the dark underworld of Tel Aviv.When young social activist Michal Poleg is found dead in her Tel Aviv apartment, her body showing signs of severe violence, officer Anat Nachmias is given the lead on her first murder investigation. Eager to find answers, the talented and sensitive cop looks to the victim's past for clues, focusing on the last days before her death. Could one of the asylum seekers Michal worked with be behind this crime?Then a young African man confesses to the murder, and Anat's commanders say the case is closed.
Prince of Fire
By Silva, Daniel
Few recent thriller writers have excited the kind of critical praise that Daniel Silva has, with his novels featuring art restorer and sometime spy Gabriel Allon. Now Allon is back in Venice, when a terrible explosion in Rome leads to a disturbing personal revelation: the existence of a dossier in the hands of terrorists that strips away his secrets, lays bare his history. Hastily recalled home to Israel, drawn once more into the heart of a service he had once forsaken, Gabriel Allon finds himself stalking an elusive master terrorist across a landscape drenched in generations of blood, along a trail that keeps turning in upon itself, until, finally, he can no longer be certain who is stalking whom. And when at last the inevitable showdown comes, it's not Gabriel alone who is threatened with destruction-for it is not his history alone that has been laid bare. A knife-edged thriller of astonishing intricacy and feeling, filled with exhilarating prose, this is Daniel Silva's finest novel yet.
A Cup of Friendship
By Rodriguez, Deborah
From the author of the ldquobighearted inspiringrdquo Vogue memoir Kabul Beauty School comes a fiction debut as compelling as real life the story of a remarkable coffee shop in the heart of Afghanistan and the men and women who meet theremdashthrown together by circumstance bonded by secrets and united in an extraordinary friendship After hard luck and some bad choices Sunny has finally found a place to call homemdashit just happens to be in the middle of a war zone The thirty-eight-year-old Americanrsquos pride and joy is the Kabul Coffee House where she brings hospitality to the expatriates misfits missionaries and mercenaries who stroll through its doors Shersquos especially grateful that the busy days allow her to forget Tommy the love of her life who left her in pursuit of money and adventure Working alongside Sunny is the maternal Halajan who vividly recalls the days before the Taliban and now must hide a modern romance from her ultratraditional sonmdashwho unbeknownst to her is facing his own religious doubts Into the cafeacute come Isabel a British journalist on the trail of a risky story Jack who left his family back home in Michigan to earn ldquodanger payrdquo as a consultant and Candace a wealthy and well-connected American whose desire to help threatens to cloud her judgment When Yazmina a young Afghan from a remote village is kidnapped and left on a city street pregnant and alone Sunny welcomes her into the cafeacute and gives her a homemdashbut Yazmina hides a secret that could put all their lives in jeopardy As this group of men and women discover that therersquos more to one another than meets the eye theyrsquoll form an unlikely friendship that will change not only their own lives but the lives of an entire country Brimming with Deborah Rodriguezrsquos remarkable gift for depicting the nuances of life in Kabul and filled with vibrant characters that readers will truly care about A Cup of Friendship is the best kind of fictionmdashfull of heart yet smart and thought-provoking.
The Mullah's Storm
By Young, Thomas W.
An extraordinary debut novel about courage and survival in Afghanistan, written as only a man who has "been there and done that" could tell it. "When you write fiction, your best work may come from what scares you the most," writes airman Thomas W. Young. "When I first flew to Afghanistan, what scared me the most wasn't the thought of getting shot down and killed. It was the thought of getting shot down and not killed. . . ." A transport plane carrying an important Taliban detainee for interrogation is shot down in a blizzard over the Hindu Kush. The storm makes rescue impossible, and for two people - navigator Michael Parson and a woman Army interpreter, Sergeant Gold - a battle for survival begins across some of the most forbidding terrain on earth against not only the hazards of nature, but the treacheries of man: the Taliban stalking them; the villagers, whose loyalty is unknown; and a prisoner who would very much like the three of them to be caught. All Parson and Gold have is each other, to stay alive. It is a novel of relentless pace and constant surprise, not only in the turns of its plot but in the strength and fleetness of its prose. Thomas Young is a writer - and this is the beginning of a brilliant career.
The Forty Rules of Love
By Shafak, Elif
In this lyrical, exuberant tale, acclaimed Turkish author Elif Shafak, author of The Island of Missing Trees (a Reeses Book Club Pick) , incarnates Rumis timeless message of loveThe Forty Rules of Love unfolds two tantalizing parallel narratives - one contemporary and the other set in the thirteenth century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, the whirling dervish known as Shams of Tabriz - that together explore the enduring power of Rumis work. . Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is to read and report on Sweet Blasphemy, a novel written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerized by his tale of Shamss search for Rumi and the dervishs role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic, passionate poet, and advocate of love. She is also taken with Shamss lessons, or rules, that offer insight into an ancient philosophy based on the unity of all people and religions, and the presence of love in each and every one of us. As she reads on, she realizes that Rumis story mirÂrors her own and that Zahara - like Shams - has come to set her free.
Persepolis
By Satrapi, Marjane
Originally published to wide critical acclaim in France, where it elicited comparisons to Art Spiegelman's Maus, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's wise, funny, and heartbreaking memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran's last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran: of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life and of the enormous toll repressive regimes exact on the individual spirit.
Salt Houses
By Alyan, Hala
Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR * Nylon * Kirkus Reviews * Bustle * BookPage "Moving and beautifully written." - Entertainment Weekly "[Alyan is] a master." - Los Angeles Review of Books On the eve of her daughter Alia's wedding, Salma reads the girl's future in a cup of coffee dregs. She sees an unsettled life for Alia and her children; she also sees travel and luck. While she chooses to keep her predictions to herself that day, they will all soon come to pass when the family is uprooted in the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967. Lyrical and heartbreaking, Salt Houses follows three generations of a Palestinian family and asks us to confront that most devastating of all truths: you can't go home again. "Beautiful .
The Map of Salt and Stars
By Joukhadar, Jennifer Zeynab
This rich, moving, and lyrical debut novel is to Syria what The Kite Runner was to Afghanistan; the story of two girls living eight hundred years apart - a modern-day Syrian refugee seeking safety and a medieval adventurer apprenticed to a legendary mapmaker - places today's headlines in the sweep of history, where the pain of exile and the triumph of courage echo again and again.It is the summer of 2011, and Nour has just lost her father to cancer. Her mother, a cartographer who creates unusual, hand-painted maps, decides to move Nour and her sisters from New York City back to Syria to be closer to their family. But the country Nour's mother once knew is changing, and it isn't long before protests and shelling threaten their quiet Homs neighborhood. When a shell destroys Nour's house and almost takes her life, she and her family are forced to choose: stay and risk more violence or flee as refugees across seven countries of the Middle East and North Africa in search of safety. As their journey becomes more and more challenging, Nour's idea of home becomes a dream she struggles to remember and a hope she cannot live without. More than eight hundred years earlier, Rawiya, sixteen and a widow's daughter, knows she must do something to help her impoverished mother. Restless and longing to see the world, she leaves home to seek her fortune. Disguising herself as a boy named Rami, she becomes an apprentice to al-Idrisi, who has been commissioned by King Roger II of Sicily to create a map of the world. In his employ, Rawiya embarks on an epic journey across the Middle East and the north of Africa where she encounters ferocious mythical beasts, epic battles, and real historical figures. A deep immersion into the richly varied cultures of the Middle East and North Africa, The Map of Salt and Stars follows the journeys of Nour and Rawiya as they travel along identical paths across the region eight hundred years apart, braving the unknown beside their companions as they are pulled by the promise of reaching home at last.
The Saffron Kitchen
By Crowther, Yasmin
A passionate and timely debut about mothers and daughters, roots and exile, from the streets of Iran to the suburbs of London In what is certain to be one of the most talked-about fiction debuts of the year, Yasmin Crowther paints a magnificent portrait of betrayal and retribution set against a backdrop of Iran’s tumultuous history, dramatic landscapes, and cultural beauty. The story begins on a blustery day in London, when Maryam Mazar’s dark secrets and troubled past surface violently with tragic consequences for her pregnant daughter, Sara. Burdened by guilt, Maryam leaves her comfortable English home for the remote village in Iran where she was raised and disowned by her father. When Sara decides to follow her she learns the price that her mother had to pay for her freedom and of the love she left behind.
Mornings in Jenin
By Abulhawa, Susan
A heart-wrenching, powerfully written novel that could do for Palestine what The Kite Runner did for Afghanistan. Forcibly removed from the ancient village of Ein Hod by the newly formed state of Israel in 1948, the Abulhejas are moved into the Jenin refugee camp. There, exiled from his beloved olive groves, the family patriarch languishes of a broken heart, his eldest son fathers a family and falls victim to an Israeli bullet, and his grandchildren struggle against tragedy toward freedom, peace, and home. This is the Palestinian story, told as never before, through four generations of a single family. The very precariousness of existence in the camps quickens life itself. Amal, the patriarch's bright granddaughter, feels this with certainty when she discovers the joys of young friendship and first love and especially when she loses her adored father, who read to her daily as a young girl in the quiet of the early dawn.