A good land

the long version

Marie was once a fighter in the French resistance. Strong-willed and wise, she exudes the peace of a woman who has lived her life fully. She sees Leila's loneliness in their shared apartment block in Beirut and a friendship blossoms. But when Marie dies suddenly in the night, Leila is shocked to find that her life was not as she had been told; her life was a delicate tissue of half-truths, whispers, and lies. As Leila searches for the truth that Marie has never even told her family, she travels from Beirut to Prague, to the old Europe of Marie's youth, and there attempts to unravel the layers of her dear friend's life. Moving and tragic, Nada Awar Jarrar's new novel brings together the survivors of wars old and new, generations apart but yet inexplicably intertwined.