Showing results by narrator "Sarah Agha" in All Categories

Salama Kassab was a pharmacy student when the cries for freedom broke out in Syria. She still had her parents and her big brother; she still had her home. She was even supposed to be meeting a boy to talk about marriage. Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors. She knows that she should be thinking about leaving, but who will help the people of her beloved country if she doesn't? With her heart so conflicted, her mind has conjured a vision to spur her to action.

The Coin's narrator is a wealthy Palestinian woman with impeccable style and meticulous hygiene. And yet the ideal self, the ideal life, remains just out of reach: her inheritance is inaccessible, her homeland exists only in her memory and her attempt to thrive in America seems doomed from the start. In New York, she strives to put down roots. She teaches at a school for underprivileged boys, where her eccentric methods cross boundaries. She befriends a homeless swindler, and the two participate in a pyramid scheme reselling Birkin bags.

Her name is Meryem, but you'd be surprised at how difficult people find that to spell. Meryem is twenty-five years old and has just started working at the offices of Supersaurio: the most important supermarket chain in the Canary Islands. Watched over by the chain's benevolent blue dinosaur logo, Meryem contends with co-workers who don't mean to sound sexist, but aren't women just harder work than men?, a boss who seems determined to make Meryem's life as miserable as possible, and Omar - smart, funny, very-senior-but-nevertheless-seems-like-a-normal-person Omar.

Following the 2014 Gaza War and decades of oppression and resistance, storytelling platform We Are Not Numbers (WANN) was founded to give a voice to the youth of Gaza. Since then, young Palestinians, mostly living in the besieged Gaza Strip, have used the platform to chronicle the human impact of occupation and blockade. In doing so, they have passionately fought to be recognised not as numbers but as human beings with lives, hopes, and dreams. Ten years on, this collection brings together the most impactful essay contributions of the last decade from emerging Palestinian writers.

At school, Ruby is the odd one out. Although Denise and Clara are her friends, they are each other’s best friend and she is the ‘other’ friend. So when new girl Safa, a refugee who has just arrived in Ireland from Syria, joins the class, she is put sitting beside Ruby. Safa and Ruby realise that their lives are very different. But as they get to know each other they soon discover that they have more in common than they might think.

Among the many books trying to understand the terrifying rise of ISIS, none has given voice to the women in the organization; but women were essential to the establishment of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s caliphate. Responding to promises of female empowerment and social justice, and calls to aid the plight of fellow Muslims in Syria, thousands of women emigrated to join the Islamic State. Guest House for Young Widows charts the different ways women were recruited, inspired, or compelled to join the militants.

The Tyger is in danger, and Adam and his friend Zadie are determined to help. However, they soon realise it isn't just the Tyger's life at stake—the world they live in is also on the precipice of darkness. Luckily, the two children have great powers within them, and the Tyger can show them how to harness what's inside ...

A moving, inspiring and thought-provoking collection of 50 coming-out stories from around the world. From the good, the sad, the surprising and the funny, no two stories are the same, yet all are by people who share the courage to be vulnerable, take huge risks to find love and acceptance and are brave enough to be their authentic selves. Whether you have any experience of coming out or not, these stories are incredibly powerful and moving.

From the familiar to the improbable, the gross to the endearing, The Modern Bestiary is a compendium of curious creatures. It includes both animals that have made headlines and those you've probably never heard of, such as skin-eating caecilians, harp sponges or zombie worms—also known as bone-eating snot flowers. Arranged by elements (Earth, Water, Air), The Modern Bestiary contains well-known species told from unexpected new angles (rats that drive cars; fish that communicate by passing wind), as well as stranger and lesser-known creatures.

Family matriarch and Holocaust survivor Nora Wojnaswki is about to become the oldest woman in the world, and her family are determined to celebrate in style. Her great granddaughter, Debs, however, is not too happy about being left in charge of the party. It’s been a struggle to get the Rabbi to commit to a date and the large Wojnaswki clan can’t agree on what food should be served. Only, Debs’s problems are just beginning. Because Nora isn’t your average centenarian, and she has other ideas.

Edie and her identical twin, Laura, have always been best friends. So when Laura surprises Edie at the Mediterranean holiday resort where she's working, Edie can't wait for the partying to start! But then Laura vanishes without a trace.... At the same time, in a country on the other side of the sea, Fatima and her twin daughters set out on a harrowing journey that only the strongest – and luckiest – survive. Edie and Fatima's lives are worlds apart, but now their paths are set to collide, with devastating consequences.

Following the lives of three women from the Bin-Khalid family, Daughters of the Nile is an original and darkly funny novel that examines the enduring strength of female bonds. These women are no strangers to adversity, but they must learn from the past and relearn shame and shamelessness to radically change their futures.