Tamina is drawn by the lure of the city to leave her poor Shia Moslem village to go to university in Beirut, despite resistance from her family and her society. Her tragic and passionate story is set against the background of Lebanon in the years following the Arab-Israeli War of June 1967. When she is injured in a student demonstration she is rescued by a young Maronite, Hani, who opens her eyes to the dangers of anarchy and revolution. Having recovered, she is dazzled by the reputation of the revolutionary journalist, Ramzi, who seduces her. This incidentally has been considered one of the most daring passages in modern Arabic writing. Disillusioned, she returns to Hani, her studies and her part-time work, which brings her in contact with the poorest Lebanese and with Palestinian refugees. But catastrophe awaits her, her family and her country. The tragic climax of the book, one death among so many in Beirut, foreshadows the terrible events of the conflict in Lebanon of 1975-76.
