My Country

By: Kassem Eid, Janine di Giovanni

Narrated by: Karim Jabri

Born to Palestinian refugees, Kassem Eid grew up in the small town of Moadamiya on the outskirts of the ancient city of Damascus. The streets that he and his many siblings played on were perfumed with jasmine. A precocious child, he excelled at school and had a natural gift for languages. But it didn't take long for Kassem to realise that he was treated differently at school because of his family's resistance to the brutal government regime.

When Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father in 2000, hopes that he would ease its severity were swiftly crushed. When the 2011 Arab Spring protests in Syria were met with extreme violence, it was yet another blow - and as Kassem reached young adulthood, life in Syria became increasingly precarious, as the country spiralled into civil war.

Then, on 21 August 2013, Kassem nearly died in a sarin gas attack that killed hundreds of civilians. Later that day, he would pick up a gun for the first time, to join the Free Syrian Army as they fought government forces. For Kassem, this marked the moment that he and his country changed forever.

A searing account of oppression, war, survival and escape, My Country is both a brave and deeply felt memoir of one man's life as well as a compelling indictment of a world that turned its face away as a nation fell apart.

©2018 Kassem and Janine di Giovanni Eid (P)2018 Audible, Ltd

Fascinating Story

No human should have to endure being an emigrant over and over. No one should have to endure a life lived in Syria under the current regime. Thank you so much for alerting the world. Here's hoping someone listened besides me