From the celebrated author of As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow comes a poignant novel about a Syrian American girl who uses a magical sketchbook to turn her grief into art, painting miraculous murals of her mother’s life in Syria. Seventeen-year-old Jihad Dabbagh has always seen life with a heightened sense for colors, one of many magical blessings the women in her family possess. But Jihad's gift changes depending on her mood. When depression sets in, the world is a colorless oasis, and in the wake of her mother's sudden death, the world has become a permanent shade of grey. Broken by tragedy, Jihad's family doesn't believe her color loss. Her father sends her to the elite Braxton Academy to finish her senior year. There, Jihad's name and hijab put a target on her back. Her haven comes in the form of an old sketchbook carved from a tree in her hometown in Syria—a country she only knew through her mother's...

Built on lived experience and professional expertise, Life’s Tough - Be Tougher offers practical, real-world strategies to build resilience in the face of setbacks and explores the impact of physical health, emotional, social and spiritual resilience. ‘Reminds us that resilience isn’t a rare trait given to the few—it’s a muscle we all can grow.’ Turia Pitt, author and advocate ‘The physical hardships that once toughened us against adversity are in decline but mental hardships are on the rise. This book offers valuable tools to push through the barriers that would otherwise derail any inspired vision.’ Tim McCartney-Snape Life is unpredictable and tough times are inevitable, but it’s how we respond that defines us. Life’s Tough—Be Tougher is a straight-talking guide to building resilience and thriving when hard times hit. David Buttifant and Nick Farr draw on decades of coaching experience, as well as their own stories of personal loss and challenge, to show that resilience is not innate—it’s a skill you can learn. They outline the four pillars that underpin this—Physical, Emotional, Social and Psychological recovery—and provide proven strategies, daily habits and practical exercises you can put into action straight away. Blending insights from ancient philosophy, behavioural science and their pioneering work with Resilience Builders, Buttifant and Farr offer a roadmap for turning setbacks into growth. More than survival, this book shows you how to thrive, build strength and embrace opportunities from whatever comes your way.

A profound, bittersweet portrait of a Gazan immigrant's heroic efforts to heal his community and birth love from tragedy.Readers are rarely lukewarm on Naeem Murr's work, which has been compared by critics to an astonishing array of greats: Margaret Atwood, Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Flannery O' Connor, Robert Penn Warren, William Faulker, Vladimir Nabokov, and more. His novels are likely to elicit wonderment, as in "the perfect book" (Business Day, South Africa) and "the best novel I've read in years" (Christian Wiman, author of My Bright Abyss). And in this, his first book in two decades, the conflicts, griefs, and hopes of an immigrant community in a Chicago condo come to represent those of the wounded world we all must share.As a financial crisis looms, Jamal "Jack" Shaban is trying to save his neighbors from bankruptcy. But who is Jack, really? For his flight attendant colleagues, he's an object of desire, even love, particularly for his...

From the author of The Portrait of a Mirror, a modern tragicomedy transforms the myth of Icarus into a blazing romp through bureaucracy, B-list fame, and college basketball…Phil is ordinary. A mid-level Washington lobbyist for a decidedly unsexy organization, unhappy in the way all mildly successful, minimally influential men are. That is until the spring of 2019, when Phil’s picks for the NCAA March Madness Tournament start panning out, and heads begin to turn his way. He really may do it: predict a perfect bracket, for a billion-dollar prize.  At first, Cassandra is just along for Phil’s soaring rise—she had foreseen it happening, after all. Despite moving in different circles since their shared university days and Cassandra never much liking him, she recognizes in Phil the making of a legend worthy of the highest art. What Cassandra fails to predict, though, is just how much she’d grow to care about...