Syria's Secret Library
The true story of how a besieged Syrian town found hope
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
'Hugely inspiring . . . A unique tribute to the power of books and the unquenchable human spirit' MICHAEL PALIN
'An inspiring read - humanity at its best' DAVID NOTT, author of War Doctor
Daraya lies on the fringe of Damascus, just south west of the Syrian Capital. Besieged by government forces since 2011, its people were deprived of food, bombarded by bombs and missiles, and shot at by snipers. But while the streets above echoed with rifle fire, deep beneath lay a secret library - a haven of peace with books lining almost every wall. Many people had risked their lives to save these precious titles from the devastation of war. Because to them, the secret library was a symbol of hope - of their belief that books would triumph over bombs and help them rebuild their fractured society. This is the true story of an extraordinary place and the people who made it happen.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this compassionate account, journalist Thomson knits together and expands his reporting for the BBC on the underground library in the Syrian town of Darayya. He explains that the town, just outside of Damascus, was the location of some of the heaviest fighting of the Syrian civil war; its remaining inhabitants were forcibly relocated to refugee camps in the north of the country in 2016. But rather than give in to despair during the siege, the holdouts who remained undertook a remarkable initiative: to construct an underground library, with thousands of books salvaged from the rubble. In Thomson's telling, "this literary haven offered more than an escape from bombs and boredom. It was to become a portal to another world: one of learning, one of peace, and one of hope." While the book doesn't offer broader context on the Syrian conflict, Thomson succeeds in humanizing his subjects; the stories of such individuals as Amjad, a young boy who "managed to educate himself by reading all these books and taking on the responsibility of running the library," demonstrate the ability of the human spirit to persevere and find meaning in even the most inhumane conditions. The stories Thomson relates, of great courage and fortitude in the service of literature and education, will move readers.
