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2000s: The follow-up to the internationally acclaimed The President’s Gardens
2000s: The follow-up to the internationally acclaimed The President’s Gardens
On the sixth day of Ramadan, in a land without bananas, Qisma leaves for Baghdad with her husband-to-be to find the body of her father. But in the bloodiest year of a bloody war, how will she find one body among thousands?
For Tariq, this is more than just a marriage of convenience: the beautiful, urbane Qisma must be his, body and soul. But can a sheikh steeped in genteel tradition share a tranquil bed with a modern Iraqi woman?
The President has been deposed, and the garden of Iraq is full of presidents who will stop at nothing to take his place. Qisma is afraid – afraid for her son, afraid that it is only a matter of time before her father’s murderers come for her.
The only way to survive is to take a slice of Iraq for herself. But ambition is the most dangerous drug of all, and it could just seal Qisma’s fate.
A story which examines the country and people of Iraq, particularly the capital Baghdad. From a human point of view, the trauma as well as the beauty of the city is examined. Justice is something that the people of Iraq want for their country and it’s a tragedy for all how their country is being destroyed – from within as well as from outside.
How the people of Baghdad ( and main character) see the country:
“Don’t tell me this is not permitted, it is forbidden, or it is illegal. The riches of this country have never been for its people, the heedless, naive, good people, who believe in laws that were created only to subjugate and rob them. It is our right to take anything from our own fields to take anything from from our fields, by any means.”
“Iraq has been passed from one tyrant to another ever since God created the earth, the sun, the moon and the country itself and the clever man is the one who knows how to seize an opportunity and to care for himself and for his children after him.”
Destination/location: Baghdad Author/guide: Muhsin Al-Ramli Departure: 2000s
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