The Return to Beirut - Softcover

Chedid, Andrée

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1852421495 ISBN 13: 9781852421496

Publisher: Serpent's Tail, 1989

Synopsis

Sybil, a twelve-year-old American, meets her grandmother, Kalya, for the first time. It is Beirut in 1975, and Lebanon is on the verge of civil war. From the window, Kalya looks out over the square where her friends Ammal and Myriam have arranged to meet. Aware of the tensions that threaten to tear the country apart, Kalya recalls a holiday she took many years ago with her own grandmother, at a time in Lebanon?s history when it was possible to contemplate a radiant future. The Return to Beirut is Andr?e Chedid?s hymn for a dying country. Flash-backs, memories and images of poetic beauty are richly interwoven to depict the smells, sounds and sights of a tragic land.

About this title

Review:

?That The Return to Beirut moves us so greatly is because it is written by a novelist and poet of Lebanese origins who does not cease to celebrate the possibility of harmony. The book is all the more effective, sincere and moving for being sober, transparent and measured... a beautiful novel? Ev?nement du Jeudi ?The Return to Beirut works its magic in many ways. Not only because its central focus is women who take control of their lives, of the lives of their loved ones...but also because, even if the protests of poets are not always heard above the din of armaments, they will, one day, bring Kalya and Sybil back to life and rebuild a country? Elle

About the Author:

Andrée Chedid is a poet, dramatist and novelist. Born and educated in Cairo, she moved to Paris, where she now lives, in 1946. Her works have won major literary awards including the Prix Goncourt (for short stories) and the Prix Malarme (for Poetry). Two previous novels, The Sixth Day ('A remarkable novel' Sunday Times) and From Sleep Unbound ('A brilliant touching book' Guardian), are also published by Serpent's Tail.

About this edition

• Publisher: Serpent's Tail
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 1852421495
• ISBN 13: 9781852421496
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176