A Good Land - Hardcover

Awar Jarrar, Nada

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007221975 ISBN 13: 9780007221974

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2009

Synopsis

Small truths, white lies; the many shades of friendship, all impacted by the harsh legacy of war...

The old neighbourhood block in Beirut was home to an ever- changing population as the fighting intensified and lessened. But three people were almost always there. The older Polish woman, Margo, refugee from her past, her country and family after another war, spinning her tales of freedom fighters, itinerant peoples, despair and courage. And Lebanese born and bred Layla, only recently returned from Australia after fleeing the earlier civil war to teach her students again. Palestinian Kamal; refugee, writer and lecturer, whose cherished faith in a free, tolerant, democratic Lebanon has been shattered by difficulties of living there now. Among their friends are older politicians, university friends often visiting from lucrative posts in Europe or the USA, and local political activists.

The retaliation raids by Israel and the political aftermath further shatter their community: some flee to the mountains, many leave the country. Some like Layla try to identify more deeply what it is that holds her to this place, why she cannot leave.

Nada Awar Jarrar has written a powerful and moving novel, full of character and insight, of joy and tears, which makes us understand how people can stand such daily fear of violence and can continue to have faith in the country of their heart.

About this title

Review:

Praise for A Good Land:

‘It’s an intense encounter with a mysterious and complicated place. Jarrar’s movement between tenses and time zones serves to convince the reader that past and present cannot be separated...’
Time Out

Praise for Dreams of Water:

‘The beauty of this novel lies in its images which are vivid and strange, sometimes even fantastical...There is comfort in reading about characters, all of whom are withdrawn and inhibited, yet who are shown as capable of great tenderness’
Times Literary Supplement

‘A slow-burning, powerful story of loss and grief’
Good Housekeeping

'Twenty years ago, when civil war broke out in Lebanon, Nada Awar Jarrar was forced to flee with her family. Her novel Dreams of Water recasts this experience in a tale about a family whose son goes missing in war-ravaged Beirut'
Vogue

‘This beautifully written book is powerfully evocative of the human cost of war and the longing for love, that despite the shooting and shelling, never fades’
Economist

Praise for Dreams of Water:

‘The characters are surrounded by loss and memory...Jarrar presents their stories as fragments, shifting us backwards and forwards in time, stressing the precarious nature of life for those trying to escape physical and emotional distress.’
Metro

‘An absorbing novel which beautifully navigates the themes of love and loss.’
Easy Living Magazine

‘The prize-winning author of Somewhere, Home, returns with a moving tale of love, loss, exile and hope, written in lucid, spare prose.’
Sainsbury’s Magazine

‘Nada Awar Jarrar's second novel arrives as beautifully and temptingly wrapped as a box of Lebanese sweets.’ Sharq Magazine

Praise for Somewhere, Home:

'A picture of simplicity. Her style is subtle and not overbearing, which leaves the reader with an urge to find out more about the places and people she has created' Observer

'There is a gentle humour to be found in its characterisation; you will feel that Jarrar knows these people well’ Daily Telegraph

'A moving novel written with great elegance and much compassion.' Publishing News, Special selection

'This is a beautiful book. Jarrar's prose is like a veil of poetry, threaded with the scents, sights and colours of the old house...The result is a seductive and hypnotic haven, and a powerful rebuke to the persistent brutality of war.' Sunday Herald Glasgow

'A stunning novel, beautifully written and almost poetic in style, it stayed with me long after I finished reading.' York Evening News

Synopsis:

Small truths, white lies; the many shades of friendship...The highly anticipated novel from the author of Dreams of Water and Somewhere, Home. Margo has lived in the old apartment block in Beirut for as long as her neighbour can remember. A constant in the life of the neighbourhood, she is privy to secrets, stories, whispers that seem to echo in the stone of the walls. But before this life in Beirut, she was a very different person. Married to a pilot who would be killed whilst flying over Germany, Margo played her own part in the war, first as a resistance fighter in occupied France and then as a translator after the liberation of the concentration camps in Poland and Germany. She had seen horror in her life. Layla lives next door to Margo and is in awe of her courage. It was a different time but yet she has her own experiences of war: Lebanon's civil war. And so their friendship is strong and, despite their age, they form a deep bond. But when Margo dies suddenly, Layla realises that all was not as it seemed. Could Margo's life really have been a tissue of lies? And why would she keep the truth from her closest friends?As Layla travels to Prague to uncover a past long kept hidden, she realises that there was more to her friend's life than she ever imagined.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0007221975
• ISBN 13: 9780007221974
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288