The Crossing
My journey to the shattered heart of Syria
Published on 2. July 2015
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-1-84604-487-8 (ISBN)
Description
Samar Yazbek was well known in her native Syria as a writer and a journalist but, in 2011, she fell foul of the Assad regime and was forced to flee.
Since then, determined to bear witness to the suffering of her people, she bravely revisited her homeland by squeezing through a hole in the fence on the Turkish border. In The Crossing, she testifies to the appalling reality that is Syria today. From the first innocent demonstrations for democracy, through the beginnings of the Free Syrian Army, to the arrival of ISIS, she offers remarkable snapshots of soldiers, children, ordinary men and women simply trying to stay alive...Some of these stories are of hardship and brutality that is hard to bear, but she also gives testimony to touches of humanity along the way: how people live under the gaze of a sniper...how principled young men try to resist orders from their military superiors...how children cope in the bunkers...
Yazbek's portraits of life in Syria are very real, her prose is luminous. The Crossing will undoubtedly become a classic: as both a historical document and a work of literature.
Since then, determined to bear witness to the suffering of her people, she bravely revisited her homeland by squeezing through a hole in the fence on the Turkish border. In The Crossing, she testifies to the appalling reality that is Syria today. From the first innocent demonstrations for democracy, through the beginnings of the Free Syrian Army, to the arrival of ISIS, she offers remarkable snapshots of soldiers, children, ordinary men and women simply trying to stay alive...Some of these stories are of hardship and brutality that is hard to bear, but she also gives testimony to touches of humanity along the way: how people live under the gaze of a sniper...how principled young men try to resist orders from their military superiors...how children cope in the bunkers...
Yazbek's portraits of life in Syria are very real, her prose is luminous. The Crossing will undoubtedly become a classic: as both a historical document and a work of literature.
Reviews / Votes
"Powerful and moving...bears comparison with George Orwell's Homage To Catalonia as a work of literature, Yazbek is a superb narrator...it may be that [she] has written one of the first political classics of the 21st century" * Observer * "Brave, rebellious and passionate...Yazbek is no ordinary Syrian dissident" * Financial Times * "An eloquent, gripping and harrowing account of the country's decline into barbarism by an incredibly brave Syrian" * Irish Times * "Gripping... Does the important job of putting faces to the numbing numbers of Syria's crisis..." * Economist * "Sheds valuable light on day-to-day life inside Syria, something of which we know little...a sobering glimpse of the wreckage that will be discovered when the war is over" * Sunday Times *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Ebury Publishing
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 149 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
374 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84604-487-8 (9781846044878)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Born in 1970, Samar Yazbek studied literature before beginning her career as a journalist and a scriptwriter for Syrian television and cinema. Her translated work includes the novel, Cinnamon, and A Woman In The Crossfire, her diaries of the first four months of the Syrian uprising, which has won many prizes. She lives in Paris.