Book Club

The Wolf of Baghdad by Carol Isaacs is a graphic memoir of a lost homeland and a wordless narrative
by an author, homesick for a home she has never visited. Transported by the power of music to her ancestral home in the old Jewish quarter of Baghdad, the author encounters its ghost-like inhabitants who are revealed as long-gone family members.

Osnat and her Dove by Sigal Samuel is the story of the worlds first female rabbi. Her name was Osnat Barazani and she lived in Mosul, Iraq. Osnat was born five hundred years ago – at a time when almost everyone believed in miracles. But very few believed that girls should learn to read.

Hassan Blasim, winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for The Iraqi Christ has described The President's Garden by Muhsin Al-Ramli is "a contemporary tragedy of epic proportions. No author is better placed than Muhsin Al-Ramli, already a star in the Arabic literary scene, to tell this story. I read it in one sitting". 

UPBEAT The story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq is told by its musical director Paul MacAlindin. The NYOI came through the most difficult and dangerous of times to produce fine music not only in Iraq but also in Britain, Germany and France. A beacon of hope and achievement the young musicians and their tutors made bridges across their own ethnic divisions, made great music in the most trying and tragic of circumstances.

From the rubble-strewn streets of US-occupied Baghdad, Hadi collects body parts from the dead, which he stitches together to form a corpse. He claims he does it to force the government to recognise the parts as real people, and give them a proper burial. Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi brilliantly captures the horror and black humour of a city at war.

Beyond the Sandstorm is a story of human destiny, defiance, and history. It is part biography, a narration of an Iraqi doctor who flees her country in the wake of the 2003 war. It is also a unique historical and social perspective on Iraq and its culture. The novel traces the life of Dr. Malka Al Saadi, a gifted physician, humanitarian, scientist, mother, and war victim who rises from humble beginnings to head one of the most prestigious medical departments in Iraq.

A Brave Face is the inspirational story of a woman who moved mountains to provide medical care for an Iraqi girl badly burned during a roadside attack. Barbara Marlowe's determination to fight for her future daughter highlights the way love can reach across both cultures and continents.

Christianity was firmly established in Iraq from the earliest times, and the Churches of Iraq were to play a major role in the development of Christian theology and spirituality for many centuries. In Christianity in Iraq, Suha Rassam helps us to explore the ancient heritage of these Churches, and the major contributions they have made to the intellectual development of the world.

Siegfried Sassoon is more commonly known for his poetry, which describe the trauma of an entire generation from World War One. Siegfried Sassoon's family came from Basra and arrived in the UK's city of Manchester in 1858.

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