AustLit logo
image of person or book cover 1313493270213111494.jpg
This image has been sourced from online.
y separately published work icon An Unsafe Haven single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2016... 2016 An Unsafe Haven
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Imagine trying to live a normal life in a world which changes daily and where nothing is certain …

'Hannah has deep roots in Beirut, the city of her birth and of her family. Her American husband, Peter, has certainty only in her. They thought that they were used to the upheavals in Lebanon, but as the war in neighbouring Syria enters its fifth year, the region's increasingly fragile state begins to impact on their lives in wholly different ways.

'An incident in a busy street brings them into direct contact with a Syrian refugee and her son. As they work to reunite Fatima with her family, her story forces Hannah to face the crisis of the expanding refugee camps, and to question the very future of her homeland.

'And when their close friend Anas, an artist, arrives to open his exhibition, shocking news from his home in Damascus raises uncomfortable questions about his loyalty to his family and his country.

'Heartrending and beautifully written, An Unsafe Haven is a universal story of people whose lives are tested and transformed, as they wrestle with the anguish of war, displacement and loss, but also with the vital need for hope.' (Publication summary)

 

 

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Exploring Thirdspace in Nada Awar Jarrar's Unsafe Haven Luma Balaa , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , vol. 32 no. 1/2 2018; (p. 30-47)
'Nada Awar Jarrar is a Lebanese Australian author. She writes in English, and her work belongs to the Anglo•Lebanese exile literature. When she was a child, she had to leave Lebanon because of the civil war (1975-90). She lived in Australia, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States before settling in Lebanon in 1995. In 2006, the thirty-three-day war with Israel broke out, and she fled to the mountains of Lebanon. She wrote Unsafe Haven in 2016 while residing in Beirut at the time of the Syrian war. Nearly all the novel's characters are displaced by wars in their homelands, and through their stories, Jarrar explores the different effects of displacement. Her protagonist describes how the whole Middle East region has been in turmoil, and people "find themselves disconnected and dependent on whatever and whomever provides reprieve from this state of drifting" (80). Displaced during the civil war, she flees to Cyprus for part of her life.' (Introduction(
 
Exploring Thirdspace in Nada Awar Jarrar's Unsafe Haven Luma Balaa , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , vol. 32 no. 1/2 2018; (p. 30-47)
'Nada Awar Jarrar is a Lebanese Australian author. She writes in English, and her work belongs to the Anglo•Lebanese exile literature. When she was a child, she had to leave Lebanon because of the civil war (1975-90). She lived in Australia, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States before settling in Lebanon in 1995. In 2006, the thirty-three-day war with Israel broke out, and she fled to the mountains of Lebanon. She wrote Unsafe Haven in 2016 while residing in Beirut at the time of the Syrian war. Nearly all the novel's characters are displaced by wars in their homelands, and through their stories, Jarrar explores the different effects of displacement. Her protagonist describes how the whole Middle East region has been in turmoil, and people "find themselves disconnected and dependent on whatever and whomever provides reprieve from this state of drifting" (80). Displaced during the civil war, she flees to Cyprus for part of her life.' (Introduction(
 
Last amended 6 Jan 2020 15:47:14
Settings:
  • Beirut,
    c
    Lebanon,
    c
    Middle East, Asia,
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X