ABOUT
THE BOOK

Thirty-nine-year-old Sirine, never married, lives with a devoted Iraqi-immigrant uncle and an adoring dog named King Babar. She works as a chef in a Lebanese restaurant, her passions aroused only by the preparation of food-until an unbearably handsome Arabic literature professor starts dropping by for a little home cooking. Falling in love brings Sirine’s whole heart to a boil-stirring up memories of her parents and questions about her identity as an Arab American.
Meanwhile, a host of magnificent characters do their best to interfere with her life: her endlessly patient and thoroughly appealing uncle, who spins a magical story about an Arab slave who escapes his masters by pretending to drown; her unrequited admirer, Nathan, an art photographer with disturbing obsessions and a dark past; and Umm Nadia, her saucy, matchmaking boss, who tells Sirine’s fortune in the coffee grounds a the bottom of her cup.