this is a beautiful novel of a young girl’s life during the war in Lebanon ignited by the Israeli invasion in the 1980s. it’s about the ways we move through grief and heartache, how we have no choice but to break under the weight of unimaginable atrocities. how we can pick each other up, how we can make space for love and care even when all seems lost 

“but war isn’t only in the soldier’s heart[]. that’s what most people don’t see. it’s in the heart of the man in the suit - the man with the fat wallet, the smiling mouth and the sweet tongue - in his heart maybe most of all. perhaps he pulls more triggers than anyone, even though his finger never once touches a gun.”