Ocean State Libraries

Sea Prayer is composed in the form of a letter, from a father to his son, on the eve of their journey. Watching over his sleeping son, the father reflects on the dangerous sea-crossing that lies before them. It is also a vivid portrait of their life in Homs, Syria, before the war, and of that city's swift transformation from a home into a deadly war zone. --

A dogged, absurd quest through the nightmare of the Syrian civil war, Khaled Khalifa's Death Is Hard Work is the new novel from the greatest chronicler of Syria's ongoing and catastrophic civil war: a tale of three ordinary people facing down the stuff of nightmares armed with little more than simple determination. Abdel Latif, an old man from the Aleppo region, dies peacefully in a hospital bed in Damascus. His final wish, conveyed to his youngest...

A Pulitzer Prize-nominated reporter and former prisoner of the pro Assad militia presents a revisionist account of the Syrian Civil War that incorporates previously unpublished details about the origins and persistence of its human atrocities. In spring 2011, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned to his friend and army commander, Manaf Tlass, for advice about how to respond to Arab Spring-inspired protests. Tlass pushed for conciliation but Assad...

"Doing for Syria what Imperial Life in the Emerald City did for the war in Iraq, The Morning They Came for Us bears witness to one of the most brutal, internecine conflicts in recent history. Drawing from years of experience covering Syria for Vanity Fair, Newsweek, and the front pages of the New York Times, award-winning journalist Janine di Giovanni gives us a tour de force of war reportage, all told through the perspective of ordinary people--among...

"The stunning story of a young woman, an international crisis, and the triumph of the human spirit. Adrift in a frigid sea, no land in sight--just debris from the ship's wreckage and floating corpses all around--nineteen-year-old Doaa Al Zamel floats with a small inflatable water ring around her waist and clutches two children, barely toddlers, to her body. The children had been thrust into Doaa's arms by their drowning relatives, all refugees who...

The story of Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, a young boy whose family moved from Iraq to Syria just before the start of the Syrian civil war. In 2014 his family finally found safety in immigrating to Edmonton, Canada.

In 2011, Syrians took to the streets to demand the overthrow of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Today, much of Syria has become a war-zone where foreign journalists find it almost impossible to go. Burning Country explores the reality of life in present-day Syria. Drawn from over fifteen years of work with the people of Syria, it reveals the stories of opposition fighters, exiles lost in an archipelago of refugee camps, and many others. Examining new...

Since ISIS occupied Raqqa in eastern Syria, it has become one of the most isolated and fear-ridden cities on earth. The sale of televisions has been banned, wearing pants the wrong length is a punishable offense, and using a cellphone is considered an unforgivable crime. No journalists are allowed in and the penalty for speaking to the western media is death by beheading. Despite this, after several months of nervy and often interrupted conversations,...

"The award-winning journalist presents a searing account of his experiences with being captured and tortured in Syria by al Qaeda for two years, detailing his related witness to Syrian village life." --