{"product_id":"9780061988660_sweet-dates-in-basra","title":"Sweet Dates in Basra","description":"\u003cp\u003eJust when her family should be arranging her marriage, Kathmiya Mahmoud, a young Marsh Arab maiden, is sent from her home in Iraq's idyllic countryside to the unfamiliar city of Basra, where she must survive on her paltry earnings as a servant. Her only asset—her exquisite beauty—brings more peril than peace. Worse, her mother appears to be keeping a secret about her own mysterious past, one that could threaten Kathmiya's destiny forever.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this lost Iraq of the 1940s, a time of rich traditions and converging worlds, Kathmiya meets Shafiq, a Jewish boy whose brotherhood with his Muslim neighbor Omar proves that religion is no barrier to friendship. But in a world where loss of honor is punishable by death, the closeness that grows between Kathmiya and Shafiq becomes dangerous as a doomed love takes root. When British warplanes begin bombing Iraq and the country's long-simmering tensions explode, the power of an unbreakable boyhood bond and a transcendent love must overcome the deepening fractures of a collapsing society. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSet during the tumultuous years surrounding the Second World War, \u003cem\u003eSweet Dates in Basra\u003c\/em\u003e is the redemptive story of two very different cultures, and a powerful reminder that no walls can confine the human spirit.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jessica Jiji","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46899322421397,"sku":"9780061988660","price":46.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0484\/3175\/9509\/files\/9780061988660.png?v=1777422856","url":"https:\/\/harpercollins.com.au\/products\/9780061988660_sweet-dates-in-basra","provider":"HarperCollins AU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}