As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow

Katouh, ZoulfaZoulfa Katouh is a Canadian writer with Syrian roots. A trilingual pharmacist, currently pursuing a master's in drug sciences, Zoulfa is the first Syrian author to be published in both the US and the UK in the young adult category. When she's not talking to herself in the woodland forest, she's drinking iced coffee, baking aesthetic cookies and cakes, and telling everyone who will listen about how BTS paved the way. Her dream is to get Kim Nam-joon to read one of her books. If that happens, she will expire on the spot. As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow is her debut novel. Twitter: @thelemonwitch_

Burning with the fires of hope and possibility, AS LONG AS THE LEMON TREES GROW will sweep you up and never let you go.Salama Kassab was a pharmacy student when the cries for freedom broke out in Syria. She still had her parents and her big brother; she still had her home. She was even supposed to be meeting a boy to talk about marriage. Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors. She knows that she should be thinking about leaving, but who will help the people of her beloved country if she doesn't? With her heart so conflicted, her mind has conjured a vision to spur her to action. His name is Khawf, and he haunts her nights with hallucinations of everything she has lost.But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, when she crosses paths with Kenan, the boy she was supposed to meet on that fateful day, she starts to doubt her resolve in leaving home at all. Soon, Salama must learn to see the events around her for what they truly are-not a war, but a revolution-and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria's freedom.

An epic, emotional, breathtaking story of love and loss set amid the Syrian revolution, from stellar new talent Zoulfa Katouh

Zoulfa on why she wrote the book: 'As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow is my love letter to Syria, Syrians and hijabi girls who rule their own lives. It's also a written testimony to a bewildered world on what is actually happening in Syria, because what is seen is usually only the aftermath-the refugees. I wanted to give a voice to the voiceless, talk about our love for our country and how no one wants to be a refugee. I wanted to write a classic-a book that educates, inspires and makes readers want to change the world.'