As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

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🍋 As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)

👉 Grab your copy of As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow on Amazon

This is one of those books that doesn’t just tell a story—it stays with you. Heartbreaking, tender, suspenseful, and even laced with moments of hope. I couldn’t put it down because I was too invested in every single life on the page.

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⚠️ Trigger Warnings

• Violence (bombings, shootings, chemical attacks)

• War trauma

• Death of family members

• Sexual assault (attempted and discussed)

• PTSD and mental health struggles

• Self-harm and grief

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🌟 Spoiler-Free Thoughts

This book wrecked me in the best way. It’s both a sweet love story and a devastating portrayal of war. I went in knowing very little about Syrian lives, and I came out with my heart cracked open. The magical realism (with Khawf and Layla) was handled beautifully—it gave the grief a shape and a voice. And let’s be honest, I was clutching the pages, whispering “please let them make it” more times than I can count.

If you love books that make you feel everything—hope, love, loss, fear—this is it.

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🚨 Spoilers Below! Full Plot Summary 🚨

Meet Salama. She’s 18, a pharmacy student whose life has been shattered by the Syrian Revolution. Her brother Hamza and father are taken to prison for protesting, her mother dies in a bombing, and she’s left caring for her pregnant sister-in-law, Layla. Except… Layla isn’t real. (We’ll get to that!)

To cope with trauma, Salama hallucinates two figures:

• Khawf, the embodiment of fear who constantly warns her of danger.

• Layla, her sister-in-law who is pregnant and depending on her.

By day, Salama works at a hospital under Dr. Ziad, doing surgeries, saving lives, and watching too many die. She wrestles with whether to stay and help or flee for safety.

Enter Kenan. A rebel boy who brings his wounded sister Lama to the hospital. He and Salama bond over grief, stories, and shared love of film. Their connection blossoms into something more, even while the war around them worsens.

💔 The twist: Layla never survived. She was killed months earlier, pregnant, and Salama’s mind created her as a coping mechanism. This revelation guts Salama—and the reader—but allows her to finally face her grief.

Together with Kenan, Lama, and her little brother Yusuf, Salama plans an escape by boat. But before leaving, soldiers storm the hospital. Salama is nearly assaulted, Kenan is beaten, and they barely make it out alive.

On the refugee boat, surrounded by prayers, songs, and fear, Khawf returns to tell Salama that fear itself is what keeps us alive. When the boat sinks, it’s that fear and determination that help her survive until another ship rescues them.

💍 In the end, Salama and Kenan marry, build a new life in Toronto, and create a home filled with Syrian touches—carrying their homeland with them.

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✨ Final Thoughts

This book is sweet, devastating, and unforgettable. I was fully invested in Salama and Kenan, terrified for their survival, and completely undone by the twist about Layla. Zoulfa Katouh managed to write something that’s both a love letter to Syria and a gut-punch of a coming-of-age story.

⭐ 5 out of 5 stars. No notes. No faults. Just brilliance.

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📚 If You Liked This, Try:

• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

• A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

• When the Moon Is Low by Nadia Hashimi

• Salt Houses by Hala Alyan