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As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow book cover
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
2022
First Published
4.46
Average Rating
416
Number of Pages

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.

Avg Rating
4.46
Number of Ratings
106,572
5 STARS
59%
4 STARS
30%
3 STARS
9%
2 STARS
2%
1 STARS
0%
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Author

Zoulfa Katouh
Zoulfa Katouh
Author · 2 books

Zoulfa Katouh is a Canadian with Syrian roots based in Switzerland. She is currently pursuing her master's in Drug Sciences and finds Studio Ghibli inspiration in the mountains, lakes, and stars surrounding her. When she's not talking to herself in the woodland forest, she's drinking iced coffee, baking aesthetic cookies and cakes, and telling everyone who would listen about how BTS paved the way. One of her many dreams is to get Kim Nam-joon to read one of her books. You can find her on Instagram @thelemonwitch_ or her website zoulfakatouh.com. For rights inquiries, please contact Alexandra Levick at Writers House.

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