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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times

New books: Beirut love, vanishing wildlife and a killer husband

Beirut United States Laura Kim Australia

Antoun Issa. Hachette. $34.99.

Lebanese-Australian journalist Antoun Issa powerfully captures his mother's experiences of love, heartbreak and new hope during the violence of the Lebanese civil war. In 1974 Beirut, Lila Khalil is the oldest of five children in a poor Catholic family, and she's just come of age for marriage. Despite knowing her family's expectations, she's drawn to Nicolas, a hairdresser at a local salon. Dodging watchful eyes, the two young lovers begin a tender romance. When tragedy strikes amid the clashes between the Phalangists and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, and life seems at its darkest, a lifeline presents itself: Australia.

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