Origins by Amin Maalouf

Origins by Amin Maalouf

Origins, by the world-renowned writer Amin Maalouf, is a sprawling, hemisphere-spanning intergenerational saga. Set during the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first quarter of the twentieth, in the mountains of Lebanon and in Havana, Cuba, origins recounts the family history of the generation of Maalouf's paternal grandfather, Boutros Maalouf: Why did Boutros, a poet and educator in Lebanon, travel across the globe to rescue his younger brother, Gebrayel, who had settled in Havana?

Maalouf is an energetic and amiable narrator, illuminating the more obscure corners of late Ottoman nationalism, the psychology of Lebanese sectarianism, and the dynamics of family quarrels. He moves with great agility across time and space, and across genres of writing. But he never loses track of his story's central thread: his quest to lift the shadow of legend from his family's past.

Origins is at once a gripping family chronicle and a timely consideration of Lebanese culture and politics.

Amin Maalouf worked as a journalist in Lebanon until 1975, when he and his family moved to Paris to escape the civil war. His writings have garnered significant accolades, including the Prix Goncourt, and have been translated into over forty languages.