Historical fiction books from Lebanon
Recommended historical fiction books (8)
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
If you are into historical fiction here are some historical fiction books from Lebanon for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge.
1.
A History of the Big House : A Novel by Charif Majdalani EN
Description:
This vibrant family saga chronicles the rise and fall of the Nassar clan, as they navigate the great events of the 20th century in Lebanon, from the Ottoman Empire to the French Mandate. At the end of the 19th century, a man is forced to flee his village after a quarrel. Starting over with nothing, the banished, audacious Wakim Nassar will create orange plantations on the outskirts of Beirut and become the head of a large clan, feared and respected. The great house he builds at their center will become a powerful symbol of the Nassars’ glory, admired from afar. But this decadence is short-live... continue
3.
De Niro's Game by Rawi Hage EN
Description:
In this explosive, captivating portrait of life in a war zone, two young men must choose their futures: to stay in the war-torn Beirut and consolidate power through crime, or to go into exile abroad, alienated from the only existence they have known.
4.
Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah EN
Description:
A 2023 Canada Reads Finalist Longlisted for the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize A vivid love letter to the 1980s and one woman's struggle to overcome the challenges of immigration. It's 1986, and Muna Heddad is in a bind. She and her son have moved to Montreal, leaving behind a civil war filled with bad memories in Lebanon. She had plans to find work as a French teacher, but no one in Quebec trusts her to teach the language. She needs to start making money, and fast. The only work Muna can find is at a weight-loss center as a hotline operator. All day, she takes calls from people responding to ad... continue
5.
Moving the Palace by Charif Majdalani EN
Description:
“A Middle Eastern heart-of-darkness tale that flows like a dream . . . Crackling with razor-sharp humor” (The New York Times). At the dawn of the twentieth century, a young Lebanese explorer leaves the Levant for the wilds of Africa, encountering an eccentric English colonel in Sudan and enlisting in his service. In this lush chronicle of far-flung adventure, the military recruit crosses paths with a compatriot who has dismantled a sumptuous palace in Tripoli and is transporting it across the continent on a camel caravan. The protagonist soon takes charge of this hoard of architectural fragmen... continue
6.
Description:
Tomando como hilo conductor los avatares de un manuscrito que, con el nombre de la mítica ciudad de Samarcanda, contiene las famosas «Ruba1iyyat» del poeta persa Omar Jayyám, Amin Maalouf recrea en esta novela un fascinante y tumultuoso mundo oriental. En el marco de la Persia medieval, desgarrada por profundas contradicciones, dos figuras destacan junto a la del que, además de poeta, fuera astrónomo, geómetra y filósofo: la de Nizam el-Molk, gran visir del sultán Malikxah, y la del misterioso ismaelí Hassan Sabbah, fundador de la secta de los Asesinos, que desde su fortaleza de Alamut mantuvo... continue
7.
Samarkand : A Novel by Amin Maalouf EN
Description:
The story of Samarkand is woven around the history of the manuscript of the Rubaiyaat of Omar Khayyam, from its creation by the poet and sage in eleventh-century Persia to its loss when the Titanic sank in 1912. Unwittingly involved in a brawl on the streets of Samarkand, Omar Khayyam is brought before a local judge who recognizes his genius as a poet and gives him a blank book in which to inscribe his verses. Thus the head of a great poet is saved and the Rubaiyaat of Omar Khayyam is born. The threads of his life become interwoven with the designs of the vizier, Nizam al Mulk, and of Hassan S... continue
8.
The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury EN
Description:
When the opening gala of a Vatican exhibit attended by archaeologist Tess Chaykin is stormed by four horsemen dressed as Templar Knights who steal an artifact, FBI anti-terrorist specialist Sean Reilly and Tess team up for an investigation. Reprint.