Willow Trees Don't Weep
By sally tarbox on 14 March 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
Overall a rather weak and forgettable story, though with moments of accomplished writing. Najwa is a 27 year old living in Amman ; her mother has just died and her grandmother prompts her to go to look for her long-absent father as a single woman can't live alone.
And so with a few clues, Najwa goes off in search of the elusive Omar Rahman, to Pakistan and then further afield...
Narrated by Najwa, the story is intercut with excerpts from her father's diary, explaining how a dissatisfied young husband and father left his controlling wife and accompanied his friend to join the mujahadeen, where his medical skills were soon called upon...

I found this rather a forgettable read, Najwa was unconvincing and didn't behave like a 27 year old. Why exactly did her heroic doctor father get into darker deeds? And what about Najwa's own actions - as a largely non-religious person, brought up by a mother who rejected islam, what prompted her doings? I was also unpersuaded by the people she encounters in the last section of the book - would her lovely landlady, Elizabeth, really have been so ultra-helpful to a girl coming to visit her terrorist father?

Not recommended. ( )