As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
- Subject
- War & Military
- Age
- Teen
- Format
- Trade Paperback
- Pages
- 464
- Publisher
- Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
- ISBN
- 9780316351485
A love letter to Syria and its people, As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow is a speculative novel set amid the Syrian Revolution, burning with the fires of hope, love, and possibility. Perfect for fans of The Book Thief and Salt to the Sea.
Salama Kassab was a pharmacy student when the cries for freedom broke out in Syria. She still had her parents and her big brother; she still had her home. She had a normal teenager’s life.
Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors daily. Secretly, though, she is desperate to find a way out of her beloved country before her sister-in-law, Layla, gives birth. So desperate, that she has manifested a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of her imagined companion, Khawf, who haunts her every move in an effort to keep her safe.
But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, Salama is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive. Salama must contend with bullets and bombs, military assaults, and her shifting sense of morality before she might finally breathe free. And when she crosses paths with the boy she was supposed to meet one fateful day, she starts to doubt her resolve in leaving home at all.
Soon, Salama must learn to see the events around her for what they truly are—not a war, but a revolution—and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria’s freedom.
Data provided by BiblioShare.
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What reviewers said
"As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow paints a stunning and often chilling portrait of the Syrian Revolution that will stay close to my heart. Zoulfa Katouh’s driving narrative, beautifully drawn characters, and thoughtful prose bleed across the page. Resilience, loyalty, and bravery intertwine into the backdrop of war and siege, brutality and terror. Teens Salama and Kenan shine with the kind of hope and love that overcomes the greatest fear. Magnificent and moving."—Laura Taylor Namey, New York Times bestselling author of A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow and When We Were Them
"Katouh’s riveting debut novel reads like the seasoned writing of Ruta Sepetys and Julie Berry and will likely find a shared audience with those titles as well.Elements of this story and facets of the drive shown by the characters will be best respected by an older teen audience. A must-read."
"We don’t deserve Katouh’s gorgeous words and heartbreaking story, but she has blessed us with it anyway. AS LONG AS THE LEMON TREES GROW is not only stunningly written, it’s also an incredibly important work of our time, a book that will no doubt touch millions and leave us all broken and aching for more of Katouh’s writing.”
"...readers will linger over the many exquisite sentences in this memorable novel that honors the stories of countless Syrians. Searing in its intensity."
"Leaving one's homeland is not an easy thing, and it can be difficult to understand if not for the stories like this, which carefully and thoughtfully account for all the trauma leading to these painful decisions."
"As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow left me absolutely breathless. Through unflinching--and at times positively devastating--prose, Katouh paints with her words a beautiful story of home and loss, but also of defiant hope. Her pages hold within them something special, something truly rare. My heart will never be quite the same."
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