Ali and His Russian Mother. Alexandra Chreiteh

      First published in 2015 by

      Interlink Books

       An imprint of

       Interlink Publishing Group, Inc.

       46 Crosby Street

       Northampton, Massachusetts 01060

       www.interlinkbooks.com

      Text copyright © Alexandra Chreiteh, 2015

       English translation © Michelle Hartman, 2015

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic/digital means and whether or not transiently) without the written permission of the copyright owner. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.

      This is a work of pure fiction, and any resemblance between the characters and real people is unintended and purely coincidental.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

       Shuraytih, Aliksandra.

       [‘Ali wa-ummuhu al-Rusiyah. English]

       Ali and his Russian mother / by Alexandra Chreiteh ; translated from the

       Arabic by Michelle Hartman.

       pages cm

       ISBN 978-1-56656-092-4

       I. Hartman, Michelle, translator. II. Title.

       PJ7962.H74A4513 2015

       892.7’37--dc23

      2015014302

      Cover photo by Hiltrud Schulz

      Printed and bound in the United States of America

      The 2006 war in Lebanon began on July 12th and lasted until September 8th of that year. Israel’s airstrikes devastated much of the country’s infrastructure, targeting especially the South of the country and Beirut’s southern suburbs, including roads and bridges. The July War displaced over a million Lebanese—a quarter of the population—leaving nearly 1,200 people dead and 4,400 wounded, mainly civilians. For many young Lebanese, it was their first experience of a large-scale war, echoing their families’ experiences during the fifteen-year civil war that ended in 1990.