Rafik Schami est célèbre pour sa narration riche, puisant profondément dans son héritage syrien et ses expériences d'exil. Ses œuvres explorent souvent les thèmes de l'identité, de la culture et du choc des traditions dans le monde moderne, rendues avec une sensibilité poétique unique pour le détail et la métaphore. Schami tisse magistralement des récits personnels dans des contextes sociaux et historiques plus larges. Son style est à la fois lyrique et urgent, entraînant les lecteurs dans une tapisserie d'expériences humaines.
Sami et Charif sont inséparables. Après sa fuite de Syrie, Charif raconte leur enfance dans les ruelles sinueuses de Damas. Leurs subterfuges malicieux pour supporter l'école, la vie de leur protecteur, le sage facteur Elias, le meilleur joueur de luth arabe de tous les temps. Il raconte l'histoire de Sami, qui combat courageusement l'injustice et risque sa vie par amour pour Joséphine. Bientôt surviennent des événements qui leur ouvrent les yeux. Quand la résistance contre le dictateur grandit et que la révolte de Daraa éclate, les amis doivent se cacher. Alors se perd la trace de Sami...
4ème de couverture : "Que peut bien faire une souris pour connaître la peur, si même le chat ne l'effraie pas ? Nina est une petite souris bien dans sa peau qui n'a peur de rien ni de personne. Elle n'a peur ni du lion, ni du hérisson, ni du chien. Elle ne sait même pas ce que c'est, la peur, jusqu'au jour où elle rencontre un serpent. C'est d'une façon très fi simple et très amusante que ce livre nous parle d'un des sentiments les plus normaux et aussi les plus difficiles à surmonter auxquels sont confrontés les enfants : La peur. Il les aidera par l'humour à mieux la comprendre et donc à mieux la dominer"
Rafik Schami's award-winning novel. In the classical Arab tradition of tale-telling, here is a magical book that celebrates the power of storytelling, delightfully transformed for modern sensibilities by an award-winning author. The time is present-day Damascus, and Salim the coachman, the city's most famous storyteller, is mysteriously struck dumb. To break the spell, seven friends gather for seven nights to present Salim with seven wondrous "gifts"—seven stories of their own design. Upon this enchanting frame of tales told in the fragrant Arabian night, the words of the past grow fainter, as ancient customs are yielding to modern turmoil. While the hairdresser, the teacher, the wife of the locksmith sip their tea and pass the water pipe, they swap stories about the magical and the mundane: about djinnis and princesses, about contemporary politics and the difficulties of bargaining in a New York department store. And as one tale leads to another... and another... all of Damascus appears before your eyes, along with a vision of storytelling—and talk—as the essence of friendship, of community, of life. A sly and graceful work, a delight to readers young and old, Damascus Nights is, according to Publishers Weekly, "a highly atmospheric, pungent narrative."
An authentic taste of the old Damascene tradition of storytelling that will inspire children’s imagination. An old storyteller roams through the old quarter of Damascus. For only one piaster, he offers to show the children the wonders of the world. The children look through the peepholes of his magic box, which he carries on his back from one neighborhood to the next. There they see and hear the love story of Sami, the shepherd boy, and the beautiful Leyla. But over time, the story changes… pictures inside the wonder box become old and start to fade away, replaced by cutouts from recent advertisements. A stunningly-illustrated children’s book filled with love, intrigue, courage, loyalty, and the sounds and smells of old Damascus.
A dead man hangs from the portal of St Paul's Chapel in Damascus. He was a
Muslim officer - and he was murdered. But when Detective Barudi sets out to
interrogate the man's mysterious widow, the Secret Service takes the case away
from him. Barudi continues to investigate clandestinely and discovers the
murderer's motive.
A MASTERPIECE FROM THE BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF THE DARK SIDE OF LOVE -- A murder in Damascus, a love with the power to save a young man’s life… In his latest novel, Rafik Schami ventures to the land of his childhood, where he is now unable to safely return: Syria. As a young girl, Sophia falls deeply in love with Karim, but weds a rich goldsmith instead. A few years later, Karim is accused of an assassination he did not commit and Sophia saves his life. He promises that she will forever have his loyalty, no matter the risk to himself. Long after the incident is buried in memory, Sophia's only son, Salman, returns to Damascus after forty years of exile in Italy; when his photo appears in the newspaper, he is forced into hiding and fears for his life. Remembering Karim’s promise, Sophia decides to call on him for help in spite of the many years that have passed, and the lost opportunity of their once-consuming passion. Set during the tumultuous years leading up to the Arab Spring, Sophia delivers the intricate plotting and lyrical prose that Schami’s readers expect, and reveals the power of love to overcome all barriers of time and circumstance.
Amid the turmoil of modern Damascus, one teenage boy finds his political voice in a message of rebellion that echoes throughout Syria and as far away as Western Europe. Inspired by his dearest friend, old Uncle Salim, he begins a journal to record his thoughts and impressions of family, friends, life at school, and his growing feelings for his girlfriend, Nadia. Soon the hidden diary becomes more than just a way to remember his daily adventures; on its pages he explores his frustration with the government injustices he witnesses. His courage and ingenuity finally find an outlet when he and his friends begin a subversive underground newspaper. Warmed by a fine sense of humor, this novel is at once a moving love story and a passionate testimony to the difficult and committed actions being taken by young people around the world.
A new international bestseller from the award-winning author of The Dark Side of Love. Even as a young man, Hamid Farsi is acclaimed as a master of the art of calligraphy. But as time goes by, he sees that weaknesses in the Arabic language and its script limit its uses in the modern world. In a secret society, he works out schemes for radical reform, never guessing what risks he is running. His beautiful wife, Nura, is ignorant of her husband’s ambitions, knowing only his cold, avaricious side. So it’s no wonder she feels flattered by the attentions of his young apprentice. And so begins a passionate love story—the love of a Muslim woman and a Christian man.
