Happy Thursday and welcome to my stop on the blog tour for AS LONG AS THE LEMON TREES GROW! I’m so excited because today I have an interview with Zoulfa Katouh to share with you! This book is truly amazing and I’m so excited to for you to find out more about it!
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh Published on September 13, 2022 by Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Genres: Historical Fiction, YA
Pages: 432
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Author Links: Website, Twitter, Goodreads, Instagram
Salama Kassab was a pharmacy student when the cries for freedom broke out in Syria. She still had her parents and her big brother; she still had her home. She had a normal teenager’s life.
Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors daily. Secretly, though, she is desperate to find a way out of her beloved country before her sister-in-law, Layla, gives birth. So desperate, that she has manifested a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of her imagined companion, Khawf, who haunts her every move in an effort to keep her safe.
But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, Salama is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive. Salama must contend with bullets and bombs, military assaults, and her shifting sense of morality before she might finally breathe free. And when she crosses paths with the boy she was supposed to meet one fateful day, she starts to doubt her resolve in leaving home at all.
Soon, Salama must learn to see the events around her for what they truly are—not a war, but a revolution—and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria’s freedom.
What would you do if you spent the day with Salama? Where would you go to eat, hang out, relax, etc.?
Salama and I would take a long walk in the forest, something that’s healing to both our souls. We’d have a little picnic by a lake and talk about anything and everything.
If Salama were to hang out with other fictional characters, who would they be and why?
I think she would get along very well with Katniss Everdeen. They both would recognize the similar pain in one another as well as the strength it takes to heal.
If there was one fictional place you could travel to for a day, where would it be and why?
I would love to visit Ingary, the fictional land that HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE takes place in. It just looks so beautiful with all the greenery and the pretty architecture.
If you buried a time capsule with three items inside, what three items would you choose and why?
BTS’s LOVE YOURSELF album, Tracy Deonn’s Legendborn, my journal.
What was your favorite bit of research you ended up not using?
None that come to mind!
What is your favorite quote, scene, or moment from As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow?
I adore Chapter 25. It’s soft between the loud moments and one of my favourite Salama and Kenan scenes. I do love how it ends as well!
About Zoulfa Katouh
Zoulfa Katouh is the only person in her family who can’t roll her tongue, but that’s okay because she writes characters who can do so. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy and is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Drug Sciences. She is trilingual in English, Arabic and German. Zoulfa currently resides in Switzerland where she finds inspiration in the Studio Ghibli picturesque scenery.
Ever since her Mama gave her a copy of Anne of Green Gables when she was eight years old, she discovered the beauty of books. Soon enough she was sneaking books under her school desk to read while teachers went on about Math and Physics. Her imagination grew, and one day, she had the courage to pen down the stories that roam her mind. And she never stopped!
Her speculative contemporary YA debut AS LONG AS THE LEMON TREES GROW comes out September 13th by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and September 15th by Bloomsbury Kids & YA UK, making her the first Syrian YA author to be published in the US and UK.
She is represented by the warrior queen Alexandra Levick at Writers House.
What do you think about As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow? Have you added it to your tbr yet? Let me know in the comments and have a splendiferous day!
I read and LOVED this book so much! It’s my top book of 2022.