In 2003, Osama al-Kharrat returns to Beirut after many years in America
to stand vigil at his father's deathbed. As the family gathers, stories
begin to unfold: Osama's grandfather was a hakawati, or storyteller, and
his bewitching tales are interwoven with classic stories of the Middle
East. Here are Abraham and Isaac; Ishmael, father of the Arab tribes;
the beautiful Fatima; Baybars, the slave prince who vanquished the
Crusaders; and a host of mischievous imps. Through Osama, we also enter
the world of the contemporary Lebanese men and women whose stories tell
a larger, heartbreaking tale of seemingly endless war, conflicted
identity, and survival. With The Hakawati, Rabih Alameddine has given
us an Arabian Nights for this century.