Sweet Dates in Basra

A Novel

De: Jessica Jiji

Narrado por: Adriana Sevahn Nichols

Duración: 9 h y 26 m

Resumen del Editor

Just when her family should be arranging her marriage, Kathmiya Mahmoud, a young Marsh Arab maiden, is sent from her home in Iraq's idyllic countryside to the unfamiliar city of Basra, where she must survive on her paltry earnings as a servant. Her only asset - her exquisite beauty - brings more peril than peace. Worse, her mother appears to be keeping a secret about her own mysterious past, one that could threaten Kathmiya's destiny forever.

In this lost Iraq of the 1940s, a time of rich traditions and converging worlds, Kathmiya meets Shafiq, a Jewish boy whose brotherhood with his Muslim neighbor, Omar, proves that religion is no barrier to friendship. But in a world where loss of honor is punishable by death, the closeness that grows between Kathmiya and Shafiq becomes dangerous as a doomed love takes root. When British warplanes begin bombing Iraq and the country's long-simmering tensions explode, the power of an unbreakable boyhood bond and a transcendent love must overcome the deepening fractures of a collapsing society.

Set during the tumultuous years surrounding the Second World War, Sweet Dates in Basra is the redemptive story of two very different cultures, and a powerful reminder that no walls can confine the human spirit.

©2010 Jessica Jiji (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers

Reseñas de la Crítica

“[T]he cultural perspective and setting are a nice break from the wartime norm, as is the unexpected ending.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Couldn't finish it

Although well written and narrated - I couldn't finish it. I expected it to be more adult oriented - but I think it is better suited for an adolescent audience.