{"product_id":"the-book-collectors-a-band-of-syrian-rebels-and-the-stories-that-carried-them-through-a-war-delphine-minoui","title":"The Book Collector's: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them Through a War;  Delphine Minoui","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-testid=\"description\" class=\"BookPageMetadataSection__description\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"TruncatedContent\" tabindex=\"-1\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" data-mce-tabindex=\"-1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"TruncatedContent__text TruncatedContent__text--large TruncatedContent__text--expanded\" data-testid=\"contentContainer\" tabindex=\"-1\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" data-mce-tabindex=\"-1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"DetailsLayoutRightParagraph\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"DetailsLayoutRightParagraph__widthConstrained\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cb data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAward-winning journalist Delphine Minoui recounts the true story of a band of young rebels in a besieged Syrian town, who find hope and connection making an underground library from the rubble of war\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDay in, day out, bombs fall on Daraya, a town outside Damascus, the very spot where the Syrian Civil War began. In the midst of chaos and bloodshed, a group searching for survivors stumbles on a cache of books. They collect the books, then look for more. In a week they have six thousand volumes. In a month, fifteen thousand. A sanctuary is born: a library where the people of Daraya can explore beyond the blockade.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLong a site of peaceful resistance to the Assad regimes, Daraya was under siege for four years. No one entered or left, and international aid was blocked.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn 2015, French-Iranian journalist Delphine Minoui saw a post on Facebook about this secret library and tracked down one of its founders, twenty-three-year-old Ahmad, an aspiring photojournalist himself. Over WhatsApp and Facebook, Minoui learned about the young men who gathered in the library, exchanged ideas, learned English, and imagined how to shape the future, even as bombs fell above. They devoured a marvelous range of books--from American self-help like\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Seven Habits of Highly Effective People\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eto international bestsellers like\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Alchemist\u003c\/i\u003e, from Arabic poetry by Mahmoud Darwish to Shakespearean plays to stories of war in other times and places, such as the siege of Sarajevo. They also shared photos and stories of their lives before and during the war, planned how to build a democracy, and began to sustain a community in shell-shocked soil.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAs these everyday heroes struggle to hold their ground, they become as much an inspiration as the books they read. And in the course of telling their stories, Delphine Minoui makes this far-off, complicated war immediate. In the vein of classic tales of the triumph of the human spirit--like\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAll the Beautiful Forevers\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eA Long Way Gone\u003c\/i\u003e, and\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eReading Lolita in Tehran\u003c\/i\u003e--\u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Book Collectors\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ewill inspire readers and encourage them to imagine the wider world.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSeptember 19, 2017\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"\" style=\"text-align: center;\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003eDelphine Minoui (born 1974) is an award-winning author and journalist whose work focuses on the Middle East. Born to a French mother and Iranian father, she has lived and worked in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Egypt. She is currently based in Istanbul (Turkey), where she works as a correspondent for Le Figaro newspaper. Besides her commitment to journalism, for which she has received the Prix Albert Londres 2006, she has written six books, including “Tripoliwood” (Grasset), “I’m writing you from Tehran (Le Seuil, newly translated in English and published by Farrar Straus and Giroux). In 2018, she turned her latest book, “The book rescuers of Daraya, a secret library in Syria” (“Les passeurs de livres de Daraya, une bibliothèque secrète en Syrie” – Le Seuil \/ Prix des Lectrices de ELLE 2018) into a documentary, “Daraya: a library under the bombs”, which has been aired on France 5 TV channel and granted the Grand Prix and Prix du Jeune Public at the FIGRA Film festival 2019. Her film has also been selected at the FIPA Festival.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"FREEAIR Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45536328155458,"sku":"","price":8.1,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/8735\/3154\/files\/syrian.jpg?v=1688932046","url":"https:\/\/shop.freeairbooks.com\/products\/the-book-collectors-a-band-of-syrian-rebels-and-the-stories-that-carried-them-through-a-war-delphine-minoui","provider":"FREEAIR Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}