Tigist

Zavian thought he had it all. Known in his community as a man of faith, good character, and great work ethics. He had the ideal home with a beautiful wife and two picture-perfect daughters. Suddenly, wicked secrets and radical deceit began to unravel as everything took a turn for the worst in an unexpected array of strange and confusing events. Zavians perfect life was over as he became aware of a shocking reality. In his book, Tigist: The Fury of a Patient Father, he takes the reader on a journey of courage, love, and determination, but also fear, despair, heartache, and often life-threatening situations he is exposed to while traveling back and forth to Syria in the hopes of retrieving his two young daughters after his wife deceives him by taking them to Syria on an alleged two-month vacation and does not return.

Zavian runs out of options as he attempts to get help from both the American and Syrian legal systems to bring back his daughters to the United States where they had lived since they were born. In Tigist, he leaps into unseen obstacles and will stop at nothing to have his daughters back home. While his own family is being torn apart, the people of Syria are in anguish as the country suffers from a tragic civil war. Because both legal and religious systems have failed him, he is faced with unthinkable decisions as everything surrounding him is in ruins. He is met with attempts of extortion by the people you would least expect as money becomes scarce in the country and bloodshed becomes superfluous.

Zavians world is shaken, and he begins to question his religious beliefs when time and time again he is faced with failure. Nevertheless, many people around him momentarily forget about their own struggles in order to support his battle to reunite with his daughters. Despite being heartbreaking, Zavians experience is one of hope and inspiration. Its harrowing honesty and brutally realistic settings make Tigist a story that will undoubtedly pierce your heart and confirm the extreme lengths that a father is willing to go for the sake of his children.

Tamara , Associate Professor
East Los Angeles College