As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow, Zoulfa Katouh
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow, Zoulfa Katouh
List: $31.99 | Sale: $22.40
Club: $15.99

As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow

Author: Zoulfa Katouh

Narrator: Rasha Zamamiri

Unabridged: 12 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/13/2022


Synopsis

A love letter to Syria and its people, As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow is a speculative novel set amid the Syrian Revolution, burning with the fires of hope, love, and possibility. Perfect for fans of The Book Thief and Salt to the Sea.

Salama Kassab was a pharmacy student when the cries for freedom broke out in Syria. She still had her parents and her big brother; she still had her home. She had a normal teenager’s life. 
 
Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors daily. Secretly, though, she is desperate to find a way out of her beloved country before her sister-in-law, Layla, gives birth. So desperate, that she has manifested a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of her imagined companion, Khawf, who haunts her every move in an effort to keep her safe. 
 
But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, Salama is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive. Salama must contend with bullets and bombs, military assaults, and her shifting sense of morality before she might finally breathe free. And when she crosses paths with the boy she was supposed to meet one fateful day, she starts to doubt her resolve in leaving home at all.  
 
Soon, Salama must learn to see the events around her for what they truly are—not a war, but a revolution—and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria’s freedom.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Zoulfa on October 13, 2022

Dear Reader, Welcome to the Lemon Trees family. It's quite strange giving my own book five stars but if there's one thing I gave 110% of myself in, it's Lemon Trees. And BTS taught me to speak myself. So here I am, speaking myself. This book comes from my pain, my guilt, my love, my sorrows, my dream......more

Goodreads review by jessica on November 13, 2022

every time i think of syria, i cant help but think of this photo. the syrian civil war has been ongoing for the past 11 years, with nearly 7 million syrians forced to leave their home and country during that time. and while salamas story does provide the much needed hope and love that the present......more

Goodreads review by Cindy on January 01, 2023

Sad as fuck but earnest as fuck. A love letter for Syria that more young adults should read instead of, like, ACOTAR or something......more