As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow: The breathtaking story of love and loss in the Syrian revolution Paperback – 22 Jun. 2023

One of the best books I have ever read ,really beautiful . I cried so much ! So sad and moving too . A book written from the heart

One of the best books I've ever read. Wonderful!This heartbreakingly beautiful novel is about Syria's ongoing struggle against a brutal dictator who has killed far too many people and forced over 7 million Syrians to escape their country. The book/ author demonstrates the incredible power of love, hope, and resilience, even in difficult situations. It is a stunning, captivating read that I couldn't put down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow is a highly emotional and breathtaking story about love, loss, and trauma set during the civil war in Syria. It delves deep into fear and just how controlling fear can be in one's life, acting as a defence mechanism. But also how hope and love can set us free.While this may be a work of fiction, it's based on real-life events and the suffering of the Syrian people. War is devastating, and this book reflects and mirrors the lives of thousands in Syria. But if there's one takeaway, it's that they are so much more than their suffering and trauma. They are strong, resilient, awe-inspiring, and kind. Everything we should strive to be.Lemon Trees follows an 18 year old hijabi called Salama, who was a pharmacy student, but is forced into working at a hospital treating patients because of the war. And 19 year old boy called Kenan, who subverts all expectations and rejects toxic masculinity.Their shared story is one of pain, but also beauty. And Salama's pov is incredibly intense and haunting. There's one quote that really sums everything up, "We don't have to stop living because we might die." This book was just beautiful, I had to try and suppress my tears on the train at 8 am, going to uni 😭There's one major plot twist (and a couple of other small ones) that broke my heart. I had to stop reading and take a break. My body went fr cold, and I wanted to scream at my wall. It was written so well, and I could not have seen it coming, not in a million years.Also, this is the first bit of fiction I've read where I've absolutely loved and wholeheartedly appreciated the muslim representation. Katouh ticked all the boxes, and I loved her for it. Hijabi representation, fully halal romance, the emphasis on prayer and reading the Quran during hardship. It was truly inspiring, and as a muslim, it reaffirmed my belief and made me want to be better.To sum it up, this book was haunting and visceral, but also heartwarming and fluffy. I couldn't recommend it enough. It's truly eye-opening and forever relevant, especially now more than ever.

Salama only got to do one year of her pharmacy degree before civil war broke out in Syria, and now she works every day in the hospital - not only giving drugs but doing surgery, helping everyone she can, even if it's just closing the eyes of the dead. With her family dead or arrested, the only person Salama has left is her pregnant sister-in-law Layla, and Khawf, a hallucination who mocks her with her fears. Torn between her duty to stay in Syria and help and her promise to get Layla to safety, Salama's dilemma only gets worse when she meets handsome activist Kenan. This is an incredibly hard-hitting book and some of it makes very difficult reading, but it's also a beautiful love story. Very glad I read this even if learning more about what's going on in Syria is very distressing.

‘No country in this world will love you as yours does.’‘We don’t have to stop living because we might die.’‘You deserve to be happy here. Because if you won’t try it in Syria, then you won’t try it in Germany. Getting to Europe won’t solve your problems.’I loved this book so much, the writing is refreshingly straight to the point. It deals with heavy themes with so much grace, hope and light. The love is pure, young and fresh.As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow is a novel about the Syrian war/revolution and its effect on real people.Salama is an 18 year old pharmacist (still a university student really) thrown into the role of a surgeon due to lack of doctors who were deliberately targeted by the military.Having lost her whole family, Salama and her best friend and sister in law are trying to survive. Like many others, she is torn between loyalty to Syria 🇸🇾 and fleeing to a safer country.I like how the author touches on PTSD, trauma induced mutism, hallucinations and many other ways trauma affects people.Character development in this book is top notch, every character had a strong voice that contributed greatly to the story. It was refreshing to see good strong male characters that were not intimidated by a strong female protagonist.Zoulfa writes in the Author’s Note ‘This novel delves into the human emotion behind the conflict, because we are not numbers. For years Syrians have been tortured, murdered and banished from their country at the hands of a tyrannical regime, and we owe it to them to know their stories.’Thank you Zoulfa, you told their stories in an excellent way. The love between the pages help the stories go down well.

Would highly recommend this book if you like middle eastern genres and a fan of Khaled hosseini (Kite runner, Thousand splendid suns etc). Beautifully written and so many themes are covered. Quite a difficult, emotional read but one that really moves you!

I read this book with tears 😢 and.. hope for a better future to all Syrians. Freedom has an expensive price. Living with trauma is the worst part of it. Well written book that should be classified as part of the Syrian history. Thank you for having this courage to share all this part of history where the world should be ashamed for not reacting properly to the pain of the same humankind.