To Anise Girls

“You must forget who you are, or close your eyes and
shield your heart from what you see;
but you cannot.”

A stirring memoir begins in 1946 with the Anise Boy just five years old, watching field workers plant anise seeds and reap the harvest in his Syrian village. His vision for life gradually opens, owing partly to the artistic flair of the Roma, called gypsies then, who travel from village to village to perform after harvest season. After several years of drought, the boy’s father advises him to learn the tailoring profession in nearby Damascus while he makes sure to keep his nose in books as a last resort.
Eventually, he works as a teenage tailor, in a workshop surrounded by dozens of girls his age. Immersed in this atmosphere, he can’t help but compare the city girls to those who he’s grown up with back home. His feelings bloom beyond what his mind imagined, and he quickly discovers love’s potency.

Through an entertaining and revealing journey, he finds that love itself is an eternal search.