Lost in Thyme- Lilas Taha
- Dr. Hoda Z. M. Amer
- Jul 21
- 2 min read
Author Lilas Taha - Author is well known for her book, Bitter Almonds, but she also has other books that are wonderful.
This book, Lost in Thyme, is a fictional story about 2 second generation Palestinian Americans whose lives cross unexpectedly in the aftermath of "Sami's" father's passing. "Petra" is given shares of his father's company.
As they both search for the reasons why, they discover how interwined their fathers were in the struggle of Palestinian identity and independence. They explore their own identities and connections to the mother land, as well as face their own demons and insecurities.
Mental illness is touched as Sami's mother is plagued with an intense fear of "Watchers" coming to steal her and other people's children. She tries to hide them in closed spaces, where the Watchers can't reach. The family priest seems to be the only person who can keep her grounded.
Petra also has struggled with feelings of abandonment and loss, having never met her father, who disappeared in Beirut before she was born, and the loss of her husband as well in recent years.
Sami has hallucinations of Petra as a child, as if he had seen her before, and intense fears of closed spaces. He deals with loss of a father he never really connected with.
There is a backdrop of Kuwait, where both families had ties to, and where many Palestinians called home until Yasser Arafat sided with Saddam Hussein and they were effectively kicked out, thereby loosing their second home.
I enjoyed the complexity of the characters, the suspense of finding out hidden family secrets, and the very raw emotions of love and loss. The book is also a peek into the lives of the Palestinian Christians in exile or under occupation.
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