If you have been following my journey for long, you might be aware of a few things:
- I love Syria.
- I love writing.
- Best yet, I love writing about Syria.
You may also be aware that I wrote a novel about Syria and then started tramping around the world and never bothered to get it published. And now, Syria went and became all the hot stuff in the news. And my little novel, still sits on my hard drive.
Now, there are two things you should know about this novel:
- It is about real people, real lives, real dreams. The real Syria, as opposed to the Syria of the media. It’s fiction, but probably the best-researched fiction you’ll ever read (hear).
- It’s a seriously good story. (in my humble opinion
)
I love storytelling, not just writing stories but telling them as well. So, I’ve decided that I’m going to make Dreams in the Medina into a podcast. Starting next week, you can listen to my novel, one juicy morsel at a time. I’ll also probably self-pub it as an ebook and maybe even a paper copy too. And… it’s in English AND Portuguese. How cool is that?!
Here’s my working draft of the back-cover summary. What do you think? (Feedback seriously welcome…)
School, sisters, cooking, cleaning… these were the most exciting activities of Leila’s childhood in a village in Dera’a, in southern Syria. She grew up expecting that her parents would eventually choose a nice local boy for her to marry, which would define the rest of her life. When Leila was accepted to study English Literature at the University of Damascus, everything changed. A whole new world opened to her through the literature she was reading, and then she started making new friends. Roxy, a fiery young woman who had married a wealthy man without telling her family. Huda, who was ready to sacrifice absolutely everything for her career. Maha, who seemed to have it all. And Ahmed, who swept Leila off her feet. As her world expanded, Leila began to believe that she, too, might write her own destiny.
