Layla's Children

By HALA NAHED DI-MAIO

A tender account of a young Lebanese woman, Merriam, and her life as she flees from the height of the Lebanese civil war to London. The story opens in 1984, and straddles between Merriam's childhood in 1970s Lebanon and her ill-fated move to London in the mid-1980s as she seeks refuge from her war-torn country. Moving between the decades, Merriam's memories of the War paint the backdrop to her present. The novel lifts the lid on discussions around painful, taboo subjects rife in Middle Eastern culture today including homosexuality, sexual violence, religion, war, displacement, bereavement and trauma. While the gruesome realities of civil combat remain poignant, Merriam's narration offers moments of humour in darkness, reminding us of the resilience of human nature. Her recollections provide a fiercely poetic view into the lives of those touched by conflict, that move through the world as we all do - to live and to love in our fullest capacity for as long as we are lucky to.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B08K4NVCNQ
• ISBN13: 9798691164248
• Release Date: September 2020
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 334 Pages
• Weight: 0.99 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"