Myrtle Tree, The

by Hage, Rawi

In the author’s second novel written in English, he weaves an enthralling saga of a young family trying desperately, and perhaps idealistically, to break the unending cycle of warring clans. In the end, between tradition and modernity, tribal clans and individuals, between love and hate, between town and country – can there be any winners? Adam and his family try to continue their lives in these impossible circumstances, with all they ever knew in continuous turmoil, some forced to leave for foreign lands, and with quite unforeseen results. It includes a gripping narrative to the end by an author who has himself lived through Lebanon’s civil war.