"In 1948, when George Khal was a year old, his family fled their home in Haifa, Palestine. They resettled in Cairo, near his mother's family, and his father, Baba, a prominent and successful businessman in Palestine, was forced to start over and build a new life for himself and his family. As a child in Cairo, George adored his father and sought his approval at every turn, even as his academic struggles increasingly caused Baba to be critical of him. Baba's expectations of academic and professional success led him to demand that young George "make a man of himself"--a directive the boy didn't fully understand in a world where there were so many different kinds of men. Rather than study and worry about the future, George was happy to explore the city of Cairo with his best friend and his brother, run errands to the busy markets with their nanny, and watch his older sisters' squabbles. But as tensions and conflicts increased in the Middle East throughout the 1950s and '60s, so did Baba's worries. He began searching for a way to get his entire family out of the Middle East and to the United States. When his plans and hopes sent George to school in Jerusalem and then Iowa City, Iowa, the young man was thrust into a new world of harsh teachers, bleak surroundings, new customs, and aching loneliness for home and family. As George grew toward adulthood, he was forced to find a way to become the man his father knew he could be and fulfill his dream of reuniting their family in the United States. This coming-of-age tale sparkles with vivid personalities and the sights, sounds, and smells of Cairo and Jerusalem in the middle of the twentieth century. With warmth and humor, Khal tells a story of fathers and sons, familial expectations, and the refugee and immigrant experience as part of the Middle Eastern diaspora."-- Provided by publisher.
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