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Vendor
Liepman Literary Agency
Marc Koralnik
Original language
English

MY HOUSE IN DAMASCUS: AN INSIDE VIEW OF THE SYRIAN CRISIS

Diana Darke

How did Syria's revolution lose its way? Using her first-hand knowledge of the country's complex religious and ethnic communities, Diana Darke illuminates the darker recesses of Syria's history, politics, and society.
A fluent Arabic speaker, she became deeply embedded in all levels of Syrian society when she bought and restored a house in a mixed Sunni/ Shi'a neighbourhood of the walled Old City of Damascus.
As fighting intensified and millions were forced to flee their homes, she offered her house as a sanctuary to friends. By following her experiences and struggles with the realities of life on the ground inside Syria, the reader will arrive at a clearer understanding of why the country remains locked in conflict and why most ordinary Syrians are caught between a repressive government and a splintering opposition, now overshadowed by a monster called ISIS.

Diana Darke is the author of the Bradt Travel Guide to Syria and has had a keen interest in the country since her first visit in 1978. She was forced to leave Damascus when the revolution began, but she has returned five times since.
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Published 2016-02-01 by HAUS PUBLISHING

Comments

‘[My House in Damascus] glows with an understanding of and affection for the peoples of Syria.'

Review Irish Times

[W]ritten with the pace of a novel and the colour of the best travel writing [T]he book offers much more than a personal memoir: it is an eclectic but learned encyclopedia of Syrian history, of the Arabs and their language and traditions, of Islamic art and architecture, and more.'

Review The Times Literary Supplement

Wenn man wirklich begreifen will, was in Syrien vorgeht, muss man gelernt haben, Syrien zu lieben. Das lehrt ein Buch mit dem Titel: "My House in Damascus, An Inside View of the Syrian Revolution". Read more...

Review Journal21

Darke's powerful, moving new book elegantly contrasts a real estate dream with Syria's ongoing violent reality Her sensitive, knowing story captures a rare view of Syria and the stakes of the conflict from an up-close observer deeply versed in its culture.'

Review New Republic

‘Diana Darke's book is set in the Syria of Bashar al-Assad, who succeeded his father in 2000. Ms Darke is a journalist and travel writer, and much of her early time in Syria was spent walking its hills and exploring its mosques, churches, monasteries and fortresses. But in 2005 she took the bold decision to use her life's savings to buy an 18th-century Ottoman house in the Old City of Damascus. Her book, now in an enlarged third edition, tells the remarkable story of how she did so, despite a succession of legal and bureaucratic obstacles, and the onset of civil war.'

Review The Economist