SuitabookAs Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
Zoulfa Katouh
- Reading
- Consider reading alongside the young person rather than rushing through difficult scenes. Pause after hospital or escape episodes, check how they are feeling, and discuss the author’s note separately from the fictional narrative.
- Themes
- Survival, duty and belonging: Salama weighs leaving Syria against protecting Layla and remaining connected to her homeland. The conflict is presented as a painful moral dilemma rather than a simple choice.
- Care amid violence: Salama volunteers in a hospital treating a continuing flow of wounded and dying civilians. Compassion and courage are foregrounded through attempts to care for others under extreme conditions.
- Fear and inner experience: Khawf appears as a physical embodiment of Salama’s fear and presses her towards escape. The device externalises fear, while the book also depicts the psychological cost of repeated violence.
- Worth knowing
- Strong language and a few kisses also occur.