Damascus · 2004 · citedThe Dark Side of Love
Rafik Schami
Schami's vast Damascene saga braids a forbidden love across a blood feud between two clans with a murder mystery and a century of Syrian history. Old Damascus is its heart: the Christian quarter of Bab Touma where the clans live, the ancient Straight Street running through the walled city, the Umayyad Mosque at its centre, and the shadow of the secret police; the feud reaches back to the mountain village of Mala from which both families came.
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