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Crescent

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Crescent

Written by: Diana Abu-Jaber
Narrated by: Nike Doukas, Marcelo Tubert
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Half-Iraqi, half-American Sirine is a cook at Nadia's Cafe, which draws the neighborhood's Arab students, expatriates, and exiles. All are hungry for "real true Arab food" and connection to their homes. One is Hanif Al Eyad, a new hire in the Near Eastern Studies Department at the university who fled Iraq as a young man. Sirine and Han fall in love over food: a baklava they make together, delicate lamb dishes, hummus glistening with olive oil.

Populated by colorful and memorable characters (the lovely Sirine; the handsome Han; Sirine's story-telling uncle, whose fantasic fables are woven into the novel; a poet named Aziz; Nadia and her daughter Mireille) Crescent explores the universal themes of love and loyalty to countries old and new, to those left behind, and to tradition. Some of the characters are learning to live in one country and let go of another, and some are not: a fact that sparks a surprising ending.

©2003 Diana Abu-Jaber; Pulbished by arrangement with W.W. Norton & Company Inc.; © and (P)2003 HighBridge Company Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction World Literature Middle East Iran Africa
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What the critics say

"Abu-Jaber's language is miraculous." (Booklist)
"A beautifully imagined and timely novel...Abu-Jaber's poignant contemplations of exile and her celebration of Sirine's exotic, committed domesticity...help make this novel feel as exquisite as the 'flaming, blooming' mejnoona tree behind Nadia's Cafe." (Publishers Weekly)
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