The Journey of Little Gandhi A Novel [Paperback]

Los Angeles has Joan Didion and Raymond Chandler, and Istanbul, Orhan Pamuk. The beautiful, resilient city of Beirut belongs to Khoury. --Laila Lalami,Los Angeles Times

From the author ofGate of the Sunand one of the most innovative novelists in the Arab World (The Washington Post Book World) comes the many-layered story of Little Gandhi, or Abd Al-Karim, a shoe shine in a city fractured by war. Shot down in the street, Gandhi's story is recounted by an aging and garrulous prostitute named Alice.

Ingeniously embedding stories within stories,Little Gandhibecomes the story of a city, Beirut, in the grip of civil war. Once again, as John Leonard wrote inHarper's Magazine, Elias Khoury fills in the blank spaces on the Middle Eastern map in our Western heads.

ELIAS KHOURYis the author of twelve novels includingGate of the Sun,Yalo, Little MountainandCity Gates. He is a professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at New York University, and editor in chief of the literary supplement of Beirut's daily newspaper,An-Nahar.

Elias Khoury is an artist giving voice to rooted exiles and trapped refugees, to dissolving boundaries and changing identities, to radical demands and new languages. Edward W. Said

How to tell the story of a city [Beirut] that has changed from the Switzerland of the East, to its Hong Kong, then its Saigon, and finally its Calcutta. [Elias Khoury] has succeeded, as only a great novelist can do. Le Monde