Born in Palestine in 1948, on the precipice of the Nakba, Sufien is forced to leave the only home he’s ever known. All his life, exile is a shadow stitched to the sole of his shoe. Still, in Hannah Lillith Assadi’s lyrical Paradiso 17: A Novel, Sufien, haunted by grief as he chases joy, creates a story marked by the brilliant light of a life lived. In Rabih Alameddine‘s The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother): A Novel, 63-year-old Raja and his octogenarian mother live side by side in a tiny Beirut apartment. A high school philosophy teacher and “the neighborhood homosexual,” Raja relishes books, order, and solitude. Then an invitation to a writing residency in America arrives, leading him to recount his singular life. Joining them in conversation is author John Freeman, editor with Alameddine of The Penguin Book of the International Short Story.
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