The Story of Zahra

Content Warning: This section of the guide depicts instances of rape, abortion, civil war, self-harm, drug use, thoughts of suicide, medical abuse, and murder.  

As a young girl, Zahra hides with her mother. They are behind a door, and finally a man enters whom Zahra recognizes. Zahra realizes that her mother, Fatmé, lied about going to get calcium injections; they’re here because her mother is having an extramarital affair with this man. On another occasion, Zahra visits Damascus with her mother, her mother’s friend, and this man. Zahra gets carsick on the way, and the adults are contemptuous as she asks them to stop so she can vomit. She eventually throws up on herself in the car.

In Damascus, Zahra’s mother shares a bed with the man while Zahra is forced to lie down in another room. When they travel to see Zahra’s grandfather, who lives in a village south of Beirut, Zahra feels something she thinks may be jealousy or contempt—something she later attributes to the distance she felt growing between herself and her mother. Her mother even ignores Zahra’s crying—an attempt to win Fatmé’s attention.

Zahra’s father, Ibrahim, works for the tramway and is gone from morning to evening.