Kisses from a Distance

Kisses from a Distance is an engaging, true story that examines the Lebanese ethos through the lives and travails of three families before and after immigration to America. The tale begins in 1895 at a remote convent in the mountains of Lebanon where a young postulant, the author’s grandmother, is abducted and given into an unanticipated, and unwanted, marriage.

The book takes the reader on a personalized journey through the tragedies caused by war, famine, pestilence, and death, one that examines an emerging post-feudal Lebanese society, and the conditions that impelled the great migration that took place between 1885 and 1914.

“The population had long since exceeded the land’s ability to sustain it, and soon the few pebbles that tumbled down the mountain and rolled onto ships heading west, became an avalanche of humanity seeking passage to the land of opportunity.”
Kisses from a Distance; Chapter 3, p. 37.

This work is not the normal nostalgic reminiscences of a memoir writer but an important historical document told in an engaging non-historical style. There are no dry recitations of dates and events but instead an interestingly woven tale of circumstances as lived by the principal characters in the story. The reader is taken on a rewarding journey that utilizes rare documents to relate the story in the characters' own words.

Reviewer Sam Hazo, Director of the International Poetry Forum in Pittsburgh, Pa. had this to say: “This book has something for all whose personal or family history includes immigration. And, since we are a nation of immigrants, this includes all of us.”

Helen Thomas, former dean of The White House correspondents, remarked that Kisses... "Brought tears to my eyes. It is beautifully written."

Raff Ellis is a former computer industry executive and a frequent writer of short stories, essays, and magazine articles. He spent nearly eight years researching and writing Kisses, his first full length book, and his journey, so worthwhile for him, will reward the reader as well.

Mr. Ellis has been interviewed on NPR, MTV Lebanon, given a book lecture at the National Archives in Washington, DC, and lectured at the top four universities in Lebanon.