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 was even supposed to be meeting a boy to talk about marriage.
Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors. She knows that she should be thinking about leaving, but who will help the people of her beloved country if she doesn’t? With her heart so conflicted, her mind has conjured a vision to spur her to action. His name is Khawf, and he haunts her nights with hallucinations of everything she has lost.
But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, when she crosses paths with Kenan, the boy she was supposed to meet on that 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.
Zoulfa Katouh is a Canadian writer with Syrian roots. Zoulfa is the first Syrian author to be published in both the US and the UK in the YA category, and her debut novel As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow is a groundbreaking read that you’re bound to get moved by. It’s an epic, emotional, breathtaking story of love and loss set amid the Syrian revolution, from a stellar new talent. Burning with the fires of hope and possibility, Katouh’s debut novel will sweep you up and never let you go, opening your eyes in an inspiring light.
Katouh’s debut novel will sweep you up and never let you go, opening your eyes in an inspiring light. With opening scenes of shriveled lemons and dry pita bread, Katouh instantly immerses readers in the current climate of Syria, a scene that is both nostalgic and ever-present. This is a story of contemporary realism highlighting real-world problems we’d rather turn a blind eye to – and this is Salama’s reality.
I think the best way to describe As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow is that it’s heart-wrenching yet heartwarming. It has mature themes of anguish, sexual assault, grief and war, but for each of these loaded topics, there are messages of love, faith, resilience, survival and beauty. This is the kind of novel I wish I’d read as a teen. Through its characters and messages of hopefulness and strength, I was pleasantly surprised by how comforting this read ultimately was.
Katouh’s prose is beautifully written and emotionally wrought, invoking everything from anger and sadness to humour and hope from readers. Salama and Layla captured my heart from the opening pages, and along with Kenan, these characters will stay with me for a long time. This novel will leave a mark. You’ll find yourself profoundly aware of the ongoing climate in Syria, echoing its cries for freedom, whilst seeing that there can be happiness and hope during tragedy. I recommend it for YA readers and mature children aged 14+.
We recorded a podcast with Katouh where she and Cheryl discussed the story behind As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow, which you can listen to on Monday, 26 September.
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