Escape from Benghazi

By Elia Meghnagi

Elia Meghnagi last saw his childhood home in Benghazi when he was only seventeen. A member of the endangered and fast-shrinking millennia-old Jewish community of Libya, in 1958 Elia was forced to flee, finding refuge in Cambridge as a foreign student.Elia built a new life for himself in England, finding friends, community, love, and a career in telecomms engineering that would take him across the globe until he swapped his high-flying career for one, no less challenging, in the kosher food business.Full of nostalgia for his native land and pride in his Sephardi roots, he carries us to the sun-drenched streets of Benghazi and introduces us to its vibrant culture and history, before sharing with us the ups and downs of life as a refugee and, eventually, a citizen, in England.Clear-sighted, compassionate, and often humorous, Elia introduces us to a wide array of the fascinating characters he has met, and the challenging situations he has faced. Perhaps most profoundly, in a narrative suffused with wonder and optimism, Elia shares his experience of fitting smoothly into other cultures while never compromising on his own religious principles or practice.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1803710209
• ISBN13: 9781803710204
• Release Date: September 2022
• Publisher: Vallentine Mitchell
• Length: 220 Pages