June Rain

On 16 June 1957, in a light rain, a funeral procession enters the church of Burj al-Hawa, a village in northern Lebanon, and gunmen hidden inside and on the rooftops open fire; around a hundred people are killed or wounded. Elia Kfoury, still a child, loses his father that day. To shield him from rumours, and from a feud that has replaced justice in the village, his mother sends him to relatives who have emigrated to the United States and shuts herself away at home. Abroad, Elia makes up stories about his roots. Years later he comes back to Lebanon in search of his identity, and one person after another tells him about the massacre, each from a different angle.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Genres

Historical, Family (assigned by AI)

Set in

Lebanon, United States, 1957 and after

First published

2006 by Dar an-Nahar

Author's age

57 when first published

ISBN

9789992142783 (Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, Qatar)

9781623719289 (Interlink Books, United States)

More

Wikidata