What Will Survive

The plight of Lebanon, just emerging in 1997 from a decade of civil war, is a fascinating historical backdrop to this novel that begins with the death of an Englishwoman, Aisha, in a landmine accident near the town of Nebatiyeh. The dead woman is identified as a minor celebrity, a fashion model with an Egyptian mother, and back in England reporters rush to the family's Somerset home to follow up rumors that link the death to Princess Diana's high-profile campaign for a ban on landmines. When a young feature writer is sent to Beirut to further pursue the story, she finds herself trapped behind the lines of a bloody conflict between Israeli troops and the Syrian-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah. Realizing that thousands of ordinary Lebanese are still trapped between these two enemies, she suddenly sees a much larger story, one in which Aisha is simply the victim of a disturbing new wave of violence that is barely mentioned in the British press. Writing her story, the reporter vows to see that justice is won for Aisha—and for Lebanon.