The Orange Trees of Baghdad
By Leilah Nadir
5/5
()
About this ebook
Winner of the George Ryga Prize 2008; published in Canada, Australia, Italy, France and Turkey
“This is a powerful and important book.” — Vancouver Sun
“Leilah Nadir’s The Orange Trees of Baghdad reminds us that Iraq is not just a war; it is a country. Lovingly woven together from inherited memory and family lore, her Iraq is infinitely more vivid, more textured, and more heartbreaking than what we see nightly on the news.... this is a book about what loss really means — the theft of history and of homeland.”
— Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine
Born to an Iraqi-Christian father and a British mother, and raised in Britain and Canada, Leilah Nadir has never set foot on Iraqi soil. Distanced from her Iraqi roots through immigration and now cut off by war, the closest link she has to the nation is through her father, who left Baghdad when he was sixteen to pursue his studies in England. He never looked back, until now, through his daughter's journey to uncover her lost family roots.
Her father’s most vivid memory is of the garden at the family house: the rosebushes that lined the walls, the date palm that intermingled with the palm fronds, and the orange tree that hung over the roses. His Iraq is of mythical origins; his beginnings are in a garden. But through her cousins still living in Baghdad she experiences the thunderous explosions that continuously rain down upon the country today, and describes losing their great-aunt in the terrifying aftermath of the invasion. Leilah’s friend, photographer Farah Nosh, brings home news of Leilah’s family after her visits to Iraq, as well as stunning photos of civilians and their often tragic stories. And just as Leilah gives up hope of ever meeting her family, a surprise reunion takes place.
In The Orange Trees of Baghdad, Leilah Nadir writes about a place she has never been to ... giving voice to so many émigrés who have been cut off from their past by war and insurrection.” — Elle Canada
“Skillfully told with extraordinary warmth, her story gives us an incredible and often surprising insight into a Middle-Eastern culture that is simultaneously exotic and familiar, comforting and terrifying ... This is a compelling, touching and beautifully written book that thoughtfully challenges assumptions about a place and a people lost in the miasma of war.” — Brisbane Courier Mail
“A compelling first book from a thoughtful writer.” — Quill and Quire
“Nadir’s work is stunning in its brilliance and poignant in its elegance.... The Orange Trees of Baghdad is a compelling memoir, worthy of every reader’s time, precisely because it eschews a simplistic understanding of all the issues it discusses.”
— Canadian Literature
“The Orange Trees of Baghdad is unique in that it is not firsthand reportage.... But this remove is what gives Nadir’s book its terrible poignancy.” — Georgia Straight
“... at once moving, disturbing, confusing, and wonderfully hopeful.... Nadir succeeds in defining a face of contemporary war that is rarely discussed, though it is the matter of a wealth of historical literature. With incredible intricacy and remarkable sensitivity she presents a portrait of the human struggles of war.... These are lasting images that ... underscore the resilience of the human spirit.” — Dr. Ivan Townshend, head judge of George Ryga Award 2008
“In a book that somehow manages to be both journalistic and intimate, the author eloquently reminds us that Iraq’s heart is a country, not a war. Her quest for her roots shows us the tragedy of this people whose land and history has been stolen from beneath them.” — France Culture
Leilah Nadir
Leilah Nadir grew up in England and Canada with an Iraqi father and an English mother. She has a master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh and a joint honours bachelor’s degree in English and history from McGill University. She has worked in London and Vancouver in the publishing industry. Since the invasion of Iraq, she has written and broadcast political commentaries for the CBC, The Globe and Mail and the Georgia Straight, and published a feature article in Brick magazine. Her memoir The Orange Trees of Baghdad came out in Canada in 2007, and has since been published in Australia, Italy, France and Turkey. Leilah Nadir lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Related to The Orange Trees of Baghdad
Related ebooks
The Orange Trees of Baghdad Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhere the Line Is Drawn: A Tale of Crossings, Friendships, and Fifty Years of Occupation in Israel-Palestine Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5From Palestine to America: A Memoir Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5We Wrote in Symbols: Love and Lust by Arab Women Writers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDreaming of Baghdad Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5A Rift in Time: Travels with My Ottoman Uncle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scattered Crumbs: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rain over Baghdad: An Egyptian Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIraqi Americans: The Lives of the Artists Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVeiled Threat: On being visibly Muslim in Britain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Diwan of Abu'l-Ala Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen We Were Arabs: A Jewish Family’s Forgotten History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One Story, Thirty Stories: An Anthology of Contemporary Afghan American Literature Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Waiting for the Past: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Fragrance of Infinity Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Thirst Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Russian Hajj: Empire and the Pilgrimage to Mecca Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Menorahs and Minarets: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Shi'ites of Lebanon: Modernism, Communism, and Hizbullah's Islamists Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBitter Oranges Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAutumn Equinox Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Invisible Ink Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFarewell: A Mansion in Occupied Istanbul Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jerusalem Stands Alone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Princesses' Street: Baghdad Memories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Woke Writer: A Companion For The Conscious Muslim Woman Writer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of a Jewish Muslim: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChief Complaint: A Country Doctor's Tales of Life in Galilee Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTouba and the Meaning of Night Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Politics For You
The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Capitalism and Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear: Trump in the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Prince Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on the U.S.-Israeli War on the Palestinians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The January 6th Report Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Awakening: Defeating the Globalists and Launching the Next Great Renaissance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anarchist Cookbook Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Orange Trees of Baghdad
1 rating0 reviews