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Praise for The Calligrapher’s Secret

“Warmly observed, richly detailed, and often bold and exciting, Schami's fine portrait of life in Damascus, Syria, in the middle of the 20th century is filled with a compelling set of characters. Noura is a Muslim girl who looks like Audrey Hepburn. Rami Arabi, her father, a noted sheikh, is frustrated that those who attend his mosque ‘treat God like a waiter in a restaurant.’ Salman is a Christian boy, hated by his drunkard father and devoted to his dog, and to Noura. Nasri Abbani is a wealthy man from an important family, but also a hopeless playboy, his business kept afloat only because of his clever clerk, Tawfiq. When Nasri sets foot in the studio of Hamid Farsi, the leading calligrapher in all of Syria, tragic and wondrous events are set in motion that will affect all in the most emphatic ways. Schami, born in Damascus, is one of Germany's most respected writers, bridging Arab and Western culture with his exquisite storytelling. A novel to be savored….”

—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A literary masterpiece… a sensual homage to Damascus… you only wish it were a never-ending story.”

—Sabine Tesche, Hamburger Abendblatt

“Schami’s new novel shows Syrian society in all its colorful facets and touches all the reader’s senses.”

—BR Online

“What a book! And what a theme that unites it: rebellion against the impossibility of love, against religious hatred, and against intolerance.”

—Brigitte

“The Calligrapher’s Secret is an exquisitely colorful universe of stories and a mirror of Syrian society in the 1950s.”

—Denis Scheck, ARD Das Erste Television

Praise for The Dark Side of Love

“Like the mythopoeic India of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, the main protagonist of Schami’s encyclopedic, jigsaw puzzle of a novel is a country: Syria… Schami gives voice to the entire chorus of Damascus life… Schami, a major international talent, has a broad range, from the scatological to the sexually comic to the painful, and with this extraordinary book deserves to establish an American audience.”

—Publishers Weekly (starred review and a PW Pick of the Week)

“...may turn out to be the first Great Syrian Novel. The Dark Side of Love illumines almost every side of love, as well as fear, longing, cruelty and lust. Darkness and light alternate like the basalt and marble stripes on Damascene walls, and the novel's structure is just as strong...as expansive, as comprehensive, as War and Peace.”

—The Guardian

“Extraordinary, exquisite, and entirely its own creature...Readers will not be disappointed by his expert pen...Romance, mystery, family saga, political exploration The Dark Side of Love takes on many shapes. This is an enthralling page-turner that will invite readers to find out how the pieces fit together; it also offers prose as succulent as sweetmeats that begs to be savored.”

—Foreword Magazine

“Romeo and Juliet meets Arturo Pérez-Reverte and John le Carré in the dusty streets of Damascus… A rewarding and beautifully written, if blood-soaked, tale.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“An important contribution to Syrian literature… readers will enjoy rambling through the streets of Damascus, a city that Schami clearly loves and evokes effectively and affectionately.”

—Library Journal

Praise for Damascus Nights

“Timely and timeless at once.”

—Malcolm Bradbury, The New York Times Book Review

“A picturesque collection of tales… wonderfully contemporary.”

—Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times Book Review

“A highly atmospheric, pungent narrative.”

—Publishers Weekly

“A master spinner of innocently beguiling yarns, slyly oblivious to the Western cartographies of narrative art and faithful only to the oral itineraries of the classical Arab storytellers, Rafik Schami plays with the genre of the Western novel, and he explodes it from within.”

—Anton Shammas

“This wonderful book is enlightening and endearing, witty and wise… Highly recommended…”

—Library Journal