‘The Arsonists’ City’: Why Hala Alyan’s second novel is a love letter to Lebanon
‘The Arsonists’ City’: Why Hala Alyan’s second novel is a love letter to Lebanon
“Tell a dream, lose a reader,” runs American author Henry James's famous creative writing dictum. Hala Alyan's second and latest novel is not impaired by a dream. It was, however, inspired by one. Tell this kind of dream, and you gain readers.
“It was 2017 and I was wrapping up my first novel, Salt Houses,” says Alyan, 34. “I had a vivid dream about this woman. She lived in Damascus, she was trying to move to California, she was a theatre actress, she wanted to become a Hollywood star. When I woke up, I jotted down 10 single-space pages on my laptop and thought:
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