When Emilie, the matriarch of a large and unruly family of Lebanese emigrants, is on her deathbed, her granddaughter must return to Manaus and her childhood home to say goodbye. Here, in the heart of the Amazon, she becomes enveloped in memories, as family and friends gather round to tell their own tales. We hear of how Uncle Hanna first left Lebanon for Brazil early in the twentieth century; of Soraya Angela, the illegitimate deaf-mute child whose short life was blighted by fear and prejudice; of Uncle Emir and his solitary walk that ended at the bottom of the river; of Hakim's wranglings with the Arabic language; of the two unnameable, fiery-tongued brothers; of the German photographer and constant friend Dorner, roaming Manaus with his Hasselblad; and at the centre of it all lies Emilie: loving, interfering, luminous.
- ISBN10 074756907X
- ISBN13 9780747569077
- Publish Date 20 August 2007 (first published 5 July 2004)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 12 March 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback
- Pages 224
- Language English
- URL http://bloomsbury.com/Trade/