Ali Kasem

As Maryam's Tree Stood Witness Ali Kasem

Salem is seven years old when his sister Maryam is murdered in his native Yemen. The honor killing comes after an innocent and joyful love blossom beneath a palm tree with a member of a hostile tribe. False rumors that Maryam is pregnant incite the killing of the sister whose smile brightened Salem's life as she told him fairy tales each night. The violence continues, and when Salem grows to be a young man, his father urges him to flee so that he will not become the next to die. In England, he meets a fiery Irish beauty with whom he brings up a family as they struggle to reconcile their cultural and religious differences. Then their world is rocked. When crisis and betrayal threaten to destroy the life they've built, Salem sees terrifying echoes of his tragic past. The details are chillingly familiar as Salem must now face a new round of horrors. Is he fated to relive his history or this time can Salem somehow save the one he loves?