As long as the lemon trees grow, hope will never die.’ This is a novel about hope, but it is also a novel about desperation. The desperation that forces people to flee from their homes, family and country that they love so dearly. Set in Homs in Syria during the civil war, it describes a time of terror, despair and loss.

Salama, a first-year pharmacy student, finds herself in a hospital performing duties she would never have dreamt of, as she tries to come to grips with loss. Her parents and her brother have disappeared/died, and she now lives with her sister-in-law, who is pregnant.

How do you cope in such circumstances, what gives you strength to keep going? Certainly, love for those close to you, but also for your country and what it stands for. But Salama slowly realises there is no hope of survival, the Assad regime is winning and, if she is going to protect her pregnant sister-in-law, then she needs to leave. The story clearly shows that many refugees are reluctant to leave their homelands and gives insight into the difficult decisions which must be made to cast oneself adrift from all you know, to undertake perilous journeys just to survive.

The novel is also about love, reluctant at first, because how can you commit to a relationship when your future is so uncertain, but it grows and develops like the lemon tree, till it becomes the strength which allows Salama to leave, and perhaps hope for a better future.

This is a beautifully written novel which gives clear insight into the trauma of war, the difficulty of leaving your homeland and the power of love. It contains some interesting and unexpected twists. It is a novel well worth reading!

Reviewed by Anthony Llewellyn-Evans
Age Guide 14+

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