Avi has had quite a life. He and his wife, Sara, have lived and traveled all over the world, including some exotic—and occasionally less than hospitable—destinations. He’s also met and befriended some colorful characters, including a man who can get you anything (for a price, of course), a tribal chieftain, an enterprising shopkeeper, a father who mourns a daughter lost at sea, a particularly hard-nosed and nosy businesswoman, and a desperate man who threatens to drive Avi off a cliff. In ...

An inspiring story of finding hope in frightening times, of exodus and determination, and of timeless questions shared among generations“When my grandson Jake was around fifteen years old, he and I decided to share brunch every weekend. Like many teenagers, he was struggling with timeless questions about God, death, and the meaning of life. During our brunches he shared his thoughts on politics and worldwide conflicts with passionate concern. I assured him that at his age, I had si...

Avi has had quite a life. He and his wife, Sara, have lived and traveled all over the world, including some exotic—and occasionally less than hospitable—destinations. He’s also met and befriended some colorful characters, including a man who can get you anything (for a price, of course), a tribal chieftain, an enterprising shopkeeper, a father who mourns a daughter lost at sea, a particularly hard-nosed and nosy businesswoman, and a desperate man who threatens to drive Avi off a cliff. In ...

"Poignant . . . deeply personal . . . an indelible history of the largely forgotten Jews of Egypt . . . "—Miami HeraldIn vivid and graceful prose, Lucette Lagnado re-creates the majesty and cosmopolitan glamour of Cairo in the years before Gamal Abdel Nasser's rise to power. With Nasser's nationalization of Egyptian industry, her father, Leon, a boulevardier who conducted business in his white sharkskin suit, loses everything, and departs with the family for any land that w...

Previously published as ‘Nujeen’The story that is inspiring the world.Read about Nujeen who escaped the hell of war in Aleppo and travelled to Europe in a wheelchair.‘She is our hero. Everyone must read her story. She will inspire you’ MALALA YOUSAFZAINujeen Mustafa has cerebral palsy and cannot walk. This did not stop her braving inconceivable odds to travel in her wheelchair from Syria in search of a new life. Sharing her ...

An international bestseller published in 7 languages (Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Hebrew, Arabic, English)."If I had a nomination vote for the nobel prize he'd be in the running." Klaus Gerken, Ygdrasil editorWhen the father of the Benzimra family dies, he leaves a will informing his family of an illegitimate son he fathered with a Muslim woman in Morocco. To receive the inheritance, the family is instructed do everything possible to find that son. They embark on a...

Second in the renowned Marseilles trilogy following Total Chaos, "one of the masterpieces of modern noir" (Michael Dirda, The Washington Post).This second novel in Izzo's acclaimed Marseilles trilogy is a touching tribute to the author's beloved city, in all its color and complexity. Fabio Montale is an unwitting hero in this city of melancholy beauty.Montale has left a police force marred by corruption, xenophobia, and greed. But getting ou...

"A powerful novel of tensions—sexual, familial, religious, and political . . . Alexandria—sensual and enchanting—shimmers in these pages" (Dalia Sofer, national-bestselling author of The Septembers of Shiraz).Alexandrian Summer is the story of two Jewish families living their frenzied last days in the doomed cosmopolitan social whirl of Alexandria just before fleeing Egypt for Israel in 1951. The conventions of the Egyptian upper-middle class are ...

Can you handle mornings without a brew? No? Multiply that. Imagine an entire population under a cloud of lethargy, unable to kick start their days.Now introduce coffee.Bingo. The brain moves into over-drive and it's time for empire building.So goes Stewart Lee Allen's crazy theory.Only thing is, after retracing coffee's journey to world domination - by train, rickshaw, cargo freighter and donkey - he has plenty of evidence to back it up.Stewart Lee Allen ...

Something's gone seriously wrong in Istanbul - a killer is on the loose, and transvestites are being murdered, the modus operandi becoming increasingly bizarre with each death. Our protagonist - fellow transvestite, nightclub owner and glamour puss extraordinaire downs her lipstick and ups the ante in the search for the religious nut. Not an easy task with the pressures of everyday life - investigations have to be slotted in between leg and chest waxes and rotating lovers. Luckily she's th...

"I'm an Arab Jew. I listen to classical music in the morning and Arabic music in the evening." Surprisingly for someone so young, Nuri Imari (whose family we encountered in The Dove Flyer), is appointed advisor on Arab affairs to the Israeli government. With little guidance he is asked by his boss to "set up an office in East Jerusalem, sniff around to see what's happening there, meet their effendis, and provide me with your evaluations." Everyone is reeling from the aftermath of the Six D...

"Wherever I have found myself has seemed the proper place for me to be. I have never been an exile." When Ellis Douek was nine years old, his mother insisted that he take up embroidery - in case he decided to be a surgeon when he grew up. Of course she was right, as she always was, for he became Consultant ENT Surgeon at Guy's Hospital in London. The Douek parents had the unerring quality of belonging in whichever country they lived and yet they never stayed long in one place -Egypt, the S...