No Place Strange

A novel about connections made and lost, No Place Strange follows four people affected by the actions of a Palestinian terrorist. Lydia is a young Jewish Canadian woman running from the truth about her father's involvement with Rafa Ahmed, the beautiful Palestinian terrorist, who may be implicated in his death. Lydia escapes to Greece, where she meets Farid, a young Lebanese man who has left his home for Athens. Farid's cousin, Mouna, is a political radical who is dangerously obsessed with Rafa; Mariam, Rafa's former professor and Mouna's aunt, is struggling to maintain a normal life in Beirut in the midst of civil war. Lydia and Farid fall in love in Greece, but any possibility for real happiness is threatened by Arab-Israeli hostilities, the capriciousness of fate, and the past that neither of them can quite escape. Bryden weaves these stories together with a deft hand. While exploring the complexities of the Arab-Israeli conflict with intelligence and sensitivity, the author never allows the work to become a political tract. At its heart, No Place Strange is story of passion and obsession, love and hate, and families caught in the crossfire.