Where the Jasmine Blooms
Two Palestinian cousins with very different lives meet in Lebanon and discover their family’s political secrets amid the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.
About the book
Yasmine enters Lebanon escaping a messy divorce and seeking the family, culture, and connection that her Palestinian mother hid during their life in Toronto. It’s 2006, and she’s meeting her cousin Reem for the first time after connecting over social media. Reem teaches Arabic and lives in a refugee camp with her mother and sister. Her brother Ahmed lived there too until he went to Syria for work and then disappeared. When Yasmine receives a package of mysterious letters suggesting her father might still be alive, the cousins embark on a discovery of political secrets no one in the family wants them to know.
Complicating her questions about identity, belonging, and healing even further, Yasmine runs into Ziyad — an old flame who’s incidentally taking Reem’s class. Though the cousins' lives could not be more different, Yasmine and Reem must learn from each other as they navigate abusive relationships, grief, displacement, and war.
Set amid the arid glamour of Lebanon’s beaches and urban landscapes, Where the Jasmine Blooms is at once a political historical thriller and a Muslim feminist love story. Turn-of-the-century Arab politics feature prominently, echoing loudly even twenty years later.
What people are saying
Uzma Jalaluddin, author of Ayesha At Last“A powerful story of family, generational trauma and Palestinian identity, Zeina Sleiman’s debut novel is an engaging and bittersweet story about secrets, both acknowledged and hidden. A compelling read.”
Jennifer Baker, editor, Everyday People: The Color of Life“Where the Jasmine Blooms poses the complexity of the mysteries that haunt and impact us, the lengths one will go to find the truth. Through immersive prose and thought-provoking characters, Zeina Sleiman delivers a story that pierces the core of how hard it can be to reckon with the world around us in the midst of turmoil. She beautifully depicts how necessary this journey is for preservation and healing.”
Saeed Teebi, author of Her First Palestinian“Where the Jasmine Blooms is a potent and absorbing novel about Palestinians navigating the varied cruelties of their exile, in both the war-ridden East and the false comfort of the West. Zeina Sleiman is an authentic, clear-eyed storyteller, and her characters are seekers of love, redemption, and ownership of their personal narratives. This is a book full of resonances for our time.
Author
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