I have recently been drawn to books that take me outside my own experiences. This one is set in Montreal in the 1980s and relates the story of a Lebanese immigrant working at a hotline for a weight loss business. Muna Heddad and her son Omar have left their life in Beirut and come to Canada. They have lost husband and father Halim Khoury to the violence and lawlessness of the civil war and come to 1980s Montreal to start a new life.

Everything is an uphill battle - feeling welcome, finding a job, adapting to the language, finding a decent place to live. Muna cannot get a job teaching French, even though she is trained. The weather is brutally cold and nothing like the gentle climate of Lebanon. But Muna and Omar are survivors. Muna finds a job with a weight loss business and works the phone hotline while Omar makes an uneasy transition into the Quebecois French school system. While trying to guide clients through their weight loss, Muna hears the secret pain and heartaches of her clients over the phone line. It is a year of adaptation and discovery while Omar and Muna live cheque to cheque and try to establish a new stability.

I felt all the emotions reading this book. It truly deserves to be a finalist for Canada Reads as what could be more Canadian than the struggle to survive as an immigrant. Excepting our indigenous and First Nations people, everyone in Canada is from somewhere else in the world.

Muna's insightful observations on her experiences and new country hit home. Her raw and touching remembrances of her husband, and her loneliness for him brought a lump to my throat. Her determination to succeed at her job and provide for her son was inspirational. Without any trace of anger or blame, she points out the failures in the system to provide adequate support services to newcomers.

This is a wonderful account of the immigrant experience, which is more relevant than ever in today's unsettled and volatile world. A five star read and highly recommended. Good luck in Canada Reads Mr. Nasrallah!