Crescent

An unforgettable tale of food, love and geography.

Sirine is thirty-nine. She is half-Iraqi and half-American. Her parents were aid workers who were killed in Africa when she was nine; Sirine was raised in Los Angeles by her Iraqi-born uncle, a professor at the local university and an endless source of fabulous tales of jinns, sheiks and Bedouins.

Sirine is a breathtaking golden-haired beauty, and also an exquisitely gifted cook at Cafe Nadia, a Middle Eastern neighbourhood restaurant when homesick ex-pats crowd its tiny tables to drink coffee and savour her perfectly spiced food.

Sirine is loved by all, but she has never been in love herself; it's her uncle's dearest wish that she will fall for the dashing new professor in the Near Eastern Studies Department, Hanif Al Eyad, a political exile from Baghdad, longing for home.

It is at Cafe Nadia that Sirine and Hanif finally fall in love; their relationship is steeped in the scents, flavours and textures of Sirine's cooking. But Sirine never quite feels that she has been admitted fully to Hanif's life; is she not Arab enough, not Muslim enough, too American?

'Crescent' tells the story of the love affair between Sirine and Hanif, in all its complicated glory and heartbreaking sadness. In a rich, poignant and romantic novel, Diana Abu-Jaber has created unforgettable characters and a compelling story.