The Last Syrian

A rare narrative of gay love in the Arab world that travels into the lives of a group of spirited youth during the Syrian Revolution.

Youssef’s mother has always told him that he is named after the biblical prophet Joseph who had the power of foresight. But when Youssef participated in the first demonstration in Damascus in 2011, he felt that the uprising against the Bashar al-Assad regime after forty years of silence and fear was ＂a miracle more powerful than that of the prophet.＂

While Josephine, a charming young Alawite, gathers in her home a group of youth to fight for their visions of a promising future, a forbidden love story unfolds between two men, Youssef and Mohammad. Meanwhile, young Khalid’s love for Josephine is brutally interrupted by the agents of the oppressive regime. Homosexuality clashes with tradition, emancipation with persecution, and feelings with loyalties, leading to an upheaval that sweeps away the destinies of the young as well as that of an entire nation.

Omar Youssef Souleimane’s eloquent novel is not only a narrative of the Syrian Revolution; it is also a story about inter-generational conflicts, rebellion, and liberation. With intense, poetic prose, he brilliantly captures the indomitable yearning for freedom that, despite all obstacles and setbacks, always survives in a hopeful person’s heart until it’s attained.

Omar Youssef Souleimane is a French-Syrian writer born in Qoteyfeh, Syria. He worked as a journalist before choosing exile in France in 2012 to escape persecution for his pro-democratic activities in Syria. Since his exile, he has published four novels and five poetry collections. Ghada Mourad teaches French and Francophone studies and Arabic literature in translation at the University of California, Irvine, and California State University, Fullerton. She is a translator of Arabic and French.