The Arsonists' City: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Feels revolutionary in its freshness.Entertainment Weekly

The Arsonists City delivers all the pleasures of a good old-fashioned saga, but in Alyans hands, one familys tale becomes the story of a nationLebanon and Syria, yes, but also the United States. Its the kind of book we are lucky to have. Rumaan Alam

A rich family story, a personal look at the legacy of war in the Middle East, and an indelible rendering of how we hold on to the people and places we call home

The Nasr family is spread across the globeBeirut, Brooklyn, Austin, the California desert. A Syrian mother, a Lebanese father, and three American children: all have lived a life of migration. Still, theyve always had their ancestral home in Beiruta constant touchstoneand the complicated, messy family love that binds them. But following his fathers recent death, Idris, the familys new patriarch, has decided to sell.

The decision brings the family to Beirut, where everyone unites against Idris in a fight to save the house. They all have secretslost loves, bitter jealousies, abandoned passions, deep-set shamethat distance has helped smother. But in a city smoldering with the legacy of war, an ongoing flow of refugees, religious tension, and political protest, those secrets ignite, imperiling the fragile ties that hold this family together.

In a novel teeming with wisdom, warmth, and characters born of remarkable human insight, award-winning author Hala Alyan shows us again that fiction is often the best filter for the real world around us (NPR).

Reviews

Breathless...Alyan plants the riches of the city with stealthy precision, making the maddening conundrum of Beirut yours...From Lebanon, we visit Syria. We reach back to Palestine. The three nations mirror the imperfect, strained yet inextricable relationship of the Nasr children, now adults...Alyan distilled the fog of displacement and exposes the ways an unfamiliar culture can devour the traits that make us special. And when plumbing the intricacies of race and womanhood, Alyan turns paragraphs into poetry. New York Times Book Review "Feels revolutionary in its freshness...The book has all the elements we expect from a family saga, but set against the backdrop of Lebanons long, sad history, the narrative stakes are so much higher." Entertainment Weekly "Beautifully illustrating the complexities, fragilities and flaws of families, this heartfelt novel centers siblings struggling to make a decision about the sale of the family home in Beirut as secrets, bonds and the legacies of war come to the fore." Ms. magazine I didnt think I could love The Arsonists City as much as Salt Houses, but I did. It was sharp, thought-provoking. I couldnt put it down. Hala Alyan is a lyrical force, a much-needed Arab American voice. Etaf Rum, New York Times best-selling author of A Woman Is No Man I dont exactly understand how Hala Alyan does itconjures love, sorrow, betrayal, and joy; goes from being funny and warm to incisive and thoughtfulbut as a reader, Im glad that she does. The Arsonists City delivers all the pleasures of a good old-fashioned saga but in Alyans hands, one familys tale becomes the story of a nationLebanon and Syria, yes, but also the United States. Its the kind of book we are lucky to have. Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind "Alyans novel brims with life as the Nasr familys secrets are revealed, pushing past into present. Spanning across the globe, from Palestine to Lebanon and from Syria to America, each character is housed in pockets of social and identity politics, exile, civil war, and everything in between...They must relive their lives, where love rushes to the fore as quickly as heartbreak." Arab News "A profound inquiry into what it means to be a family, determine your identity, and hold onto a home particularly in a world that doesn't always weigh equally the importance of everyone's home, identity, and family...Alyan is virtuosic at portraying the complicated bonds that exist between family members, and she is unafraid to show both the beauty and the despair that come with true intimacy, love, and loss." Refinery 29 "Simultaneously a sprawling look across five decades at the legacy of unending violence in the Middle East, especially in Lebanon and Syria, and an intimate, heartfelt portrait of a family gathering at their ancestral home in Beirut." The OC Register "Alyans varied talents never cease to amaze." The Millions "Alyan, author of the award-winning Salt Houses, has written another family saga studded with the same beautiful lyricism...Makes for great fiction." Lit Hub "Asweeping family saga that examines the insidious long shadow of war...Alyan brings her talents to examine the ongoing crisis of Palestinian displacement inThe Arsonists Citythrough deeply imagined characters, place-based descriptions that teem with life, and attention to conflicts from past to present day." Jacqueline Alnes,Electric Literature "Alyan, who is a family therapist as well as a poet and novelist, has a gift for depicting the knotty, messy but ultimately resilient bonds of family love. Though The Arsonists City lays bare how civil war and brutal violence impact a single family, it is the everyday, sometimes petty squabbles between husband and wife, brother and sister, parent and child that make this novel both memorable and relatable." BookPage "This multi-generational story is deeply thought-provoking." HelloGiggles No one knows the human heart like Hala Alyan. Her ability to show its unexpected contours is on full display in The Arsonists' Citya book so gorgeously written I found myself reading sentences aloud just to keep them with me a little longer." Mira Jacob, author ofGood TalkandThe Sleepwalkers Guide to Dancing

Author Bio

HALA ALYAN is an award-winning author and poet. Her novel Salt Houses won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Arab American Book Award and was a finalist for the Chautauqua Prize. Her work has been published by The New Yorker, the Academy of American Poets, Literary Hub, and others.