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By: Judy Saba
Cross cultural psychologist / Diversity trainer
2010 Churchill Fellow
I peeled back the cover of this book and there it was; a quote from Gibran Kahlil Gibran, and my heart skipped a beat. If that wasn't enough, I then read the first line, "Lucy was late and her mother was going to be furious..." I laughed, I thought of my mum, and I was sold.
I have always known that a book needs to grab not only my attention but my heart within the first few paragraphs, and this debut book by Sonia Gebrael did just that. Books, the hands on type that you touch, smell and turn the corners on, are my world. Charlie my husband and I are surrounded by them. When I received my copy of "What lies beneath the Cedars", my first thought was "what lies within our hearts..." They say 'you can't judge a book by its cover', but you sure as heavens feel immersed, or seduced I say, when the title sings to you.
Yes, once in a while a book comes along that makes you want to curl up, with a cuppa and just read, I haven't done that for a long time but "What lies beneath the Cedars" nudged me to stop, read and go on a journey. It may be easy to identify this book as a love story, it is, but what sets it apart is that it has a familiarity that is also a peek into a cross cultural labyrinth that so many of us have lived, but few have articulated. Sonia has done this in a way that pays homage to our culture, but also recognises its continual evolution, whist being able to chuckle at the idiosyncrasies that are recognisable in many of our stories.
To quote from many before me, it truly is written with "one foot in the (Middle) East and the other in the West" The characters are a microcosm of the Lebanese in Australia, and as they traverse everyday cultural codes and expectations, they butt heads with a host culture that is inevitably creeping into their lives.
Imbued with humour, sarcasm, inner voices and Arabic words in phonetic English , this story of love, grief, growing and finding oneself is so honestly written. Many I am sure will ask if this is Sonia's story, but I want to impose and respond by saying its "our story", in our voice and in our words.
Congratulations Sonia on your magic first novel, "YOU FOLLOWED YOUR DREAM, YOU GRASPED THE OPPORTUNITY, YOU BELIEVED IN YOURSELF" ...great advice I say!
I have always known that a book needs to grab not only my attention but my heart within the first few paragraphs, and this debut book by Sonia Gebrael did just that. Books, the hands on type that you touch, smell and turn the corners on, are my world. Charlie my husband and I are surrounded by them. When I received my copy of "What lies beneath the Cedars", my first thought was "what lies within our hearts..." They say 'you can't judge a book by its cover', but you sure as heavens feel immersed, or seduced I say, when the title sings to you.
Yes, once in a while a book comes along that makes you want to curl up, with a cuppa and just read, I haven't done that for a long time but "What lies beneath the Cedars" nudged me to stop, read and go on a journey. It may be easy to identify this book as a love story, it is, but what sets it apart is that it has a familiarity that is also a peek into a cross cultural labyrinth that so many of us have lived, but few have articulated. Sonia has done this in a way that pays homage to our culture, but also recognises its continual evolution, whist being able to chuckle at the idiosyncrasies that are recognisable in many of our stories.
To quote from many before me, it truly is written with "one foot in the (Middle) East and the other in the West" The characters are a microcosm of the Lebanese in Australia, and as they traverse everyday cultural codes and expectations, they butt heads with a host culture that is inevitably creeping into their lives.
Imbued with humour, sarcasm, inner voices and Arabic words in phonetic English , this story of love, grief, growing and finding oneself is so honestly written. Many I am sure will ask if this is Sonia's story, but I want to impose and respond by saying its "our story", in our voice and in our words.
Congratulations Sonia on your magic first novel, "YOU FOLLOWED YOUR DREAM, YOU GRASPED THE OPPORTUNITY, YOU BELIEVED IN YOURSELF" ...great advice I say!