Song for the Missing

A sensitive and mysterious novel on friendship, family and destruction It’s 2011 and the Arab Spring is in full bloom when the discovery of two bodies in Beirut sows the first seeds of unrest in Lebanon. With houses already burning, Amin sets out to write down his memories of the country: Of the year 1994, when he returned as a teenager with his grandmother, twelve years after his parents’ deaths. Of his friendship with Jafar, the boy who explored the desolate postwar landscape with him. And of the painful discovery that there will never be certainty—neither about his friend’s past nor his family’s history. In this novel full of mystery and suspense, friendship and loss, searches and secrets, Jarawan skillfully interweaves a deeply personal story with the tumultuous history of the Middle East...M.F

24 MUST-READ 2022 BOOKS IN TRANSLATION as selected by BOOK RIOT

"Lebanese German author Jarawan (The Storyteller) movingly evokes life in Lebanon in his affecting and complex latest. This is a gripping, human look at a tragedy that still haunts an entire nation."—Publishers Weekly

It’s 2011 and the Arab Spring is in full bloom when the discovery of two bodies in Beirut sows the first seeds of unrest in Lebanon. With houses already burning, Amin sets out to write down his memories of the country: Of the year 1994, when he returned as a teenager with his grandmother, twelve years after his parents’ deaths. Of his friendship with Jafar, the boy who explored the desolate postwar landscape with him. And of the painful discovery that there will never be certainty—neither about his friend’s past nor his family’s history. In this novel full of mystery and suspense, friendship and loss, searches and secrets, Jarawan skillfully interweaves a deeply personal story with the tumultuous history of the Middle East.

24 MUST-READ 2022 BOOKS IN TRANSLATION as selected by BOOK RIOT "Lebanese German author Jarawan (The Storyteller) movingly evokes life in Lebanon in his affecting and complex latest. This is a gripping, human look at a tragedy that still haunts an entire nation."— Publishers Weekly It's 2011 and the Arab Spring is in full bloom when the discovery of two bodies in Beirut sows the first seeds of unrest in Lebanon. With houses already burning, Amin sets out to write down his memories of the country: Of the year 1994, when he returned as a teenager with his grandmother, twelve years after his parents' deaths. Of his friendship with Jafar, the boy who explored the desolate postwar landscape with him. And of the painful discovery that there will never be certainty—neither about his friend's past nor his family's history. In this novel full of mystery and suspense, friendship and loss, searches and secrets, Jarawan skillfully interweaves a deeply personal story with the tumultuous history of the Middle East. Schon ein Sandkorn gengt, um eine groe Geschichte daraus zu machen. Als 2011 der Arabische Frhling voll entfacht ist, lst der Fund zweier Leichen auch in Beirut erste Unruhen aus. Whrend schon Huser brennen, schreibt Amin seine Erinnerungen nieder: an das Jahr 1994, als er als Jugendlicher mit seiner Gromutter in den Libanon zurckkehrte zwlf Jahre nach dem Tod seiner Eltern. An seine Freundschaft mit dem gleichaltrigen Jafar, mit dem er diese verschwiegene Nachkriegswelt durchstreifte. Und daran, wie er schmerzhaft lernen musste, dass es in diesem Land nie Gewissheit geben wird weder ber die Vergangenheit seines Freundes, noch ber die Geschichte seiner Familie. Nach dem internationalen Bestseller Am Ende bleiben die Zedern fhrt auch Pierre Jarawans neuer Roman in eine Welt voller unvergesslicher Figuren, sinnlicher Eindrcke und Emotionen, einfhlsam, spannend und virtuos verknpft mit der bewegten Geschichte des Nahen Ostens. "It's 2011 and the Arab Spring is in full bloom when the discovery of two bodies in Beirut sows the first seeds of unrest in Lebanon. With houses already burning, Amin sets out to write down his memories of the country: Of the year 1994, when he returned as a teenager with his grandmother, twelve years after his parents' deaths. Of his friendship with Jafar, the boy who explored the desolate postwar landscape with him. And of the painful discovery that there will never be certainty--neither about his friend's past or his family's history. In this novel full of mystery and suspense, friendship and loss, searches and secrets, Jarawan skillfully interweaves a deeply personal story with the tumultuous history of the Middle East." --Back cover