The Illusion of Return
Author(s): Samir El-Youssef
After 17 years, the narrator and his friend, Ali, meet at Heathrow and slowly remember their past in a Palestinian camp in Lebanon. Their memories are concentrated on one fatal night when they were with two other friends for the last time, before tragedy struck. But for the narrator, a personal tragedy had occurred much earlier...Like many other Palestinians, both Ali and the narrator had to leave Lebanon in the mid-1980s, when it became a battleground for local armies - Ali to America, the narrator to London. But this is not just a story about suffering, it is also about absurd politics and violence - about a world where tragedy and comedy co-exist. A poignant story that lingers long after one has finished it.
General Information
- :
- : Halban Publishers
- : Halban Publishers
- : 0.154
- : 07 February 2008
- : United Kingdom
- : books
Other Specifications
- : Samir El-Youssef
- : Paperback
- : 160
- : Modern fiction
More About The Product
Poignant Haunting Funny
Samir El-Youssef is Palestinian and was born in Rashidia, a refugee camp in Lebanon. His essays and reviews have appeared in Guardian, New Statesman, Washington Post, Jewish Quarterly as well as the Arabic Al-Hayat. He has been living in North London since 1990. In 2005 he won the Tucholsky Award for promoting the cause of peace and freedom of speech in the Middle East. The Illusion of Return is his first novel in English. The Illusion of Return was very well and widely reviewed and El-Youssef made many appearances at festivals, gave library readings and radio and newspaper interviews. So far it has been sold to the US and Germany.
