Wild Mulberries
by Younes, Iman Humaydan
Wild Mulberries is the story of Sarah, the adolescent daughter of a Lebanese sheikh in the 1930s. Although the area has seen financial hardship because of a sharp decline in the price of silk, Sarah’s father insists on raising silk worms. His rigid dedication to the traditional method of silk production angers members of the family. As a result, Sarah flees Lebanon and the pressures of her family’s conservatism in search of a mother she’s never known. Younes provides a textured, personal window into a country on the brink of change, and a village that is holding on to its traditions despite Western influence and economic hardships.