Letters from Lebanon

Author(s): Caroline Karkoutli

Location(s): Syria, Lebanon

Genre(s): Autobiography/Memoirs

Era(s): 1970s-80s

Caroline is a headstrong young woman looking for adventure, who quits her job in London for a challenging teaching career in Lebanon. Living and working in the mountain villages near Beirut, she develops two great passions. One is for Fathi, a mysterious and attractive older man, who is Muslim; a complete contrast to her own upbringing. The other is the country itself – the cosmopolitan ‘Switzerland of the Middle East’, with its exotic food, beaches and mountain resorts.Soon her peaceful existence is shattered by civil war and the bitterly-fought international tensions of the 1970s and 80s. When the first shells fall on her village, Caroline has some painful decisions to make that will change her life forever. How will she protect her new-found happiness and the lives of those she loves?Caroline’s description of Lebanon is nostalgic for the country that welcomed her, a stranger, as one of its own.

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