Dimensions
159 x 240 x 43mm
From the time leading up to Saddam's revolution, to life in exile and finally to her return to her lost, longed-for country, LATE FOR TEA AT THE DEER PALACE is a unique look at the history of this troubled country told through the eyes of the those who have lived and experienced it.
Far away from the Iraq we know today, 1950s Baghdad was a period of music, cinemas and great progress - the ensuing loss of the Chalabi homeland and privilege soon came after the 1958 Revolution and with it a life of exile in London during the late 50s. As Tamara returns back to her Iraq of old in 2003, a country sliding out of the tyrannical grip of Saddam's rule, she must find a way to reconcile the old and the new, the sense of alienation with a longing for her long lost country. And as she explores the nature of identity, of memory and what it means to be an exile from your own country, the magic of this country and its people are bought to life.
From the grand opulence of her great grandfather's house during the first decade of 20th century - opening up the Ottoman world of Baghdad and the birth of the modern Iraqi state - to her grandfather Jiddo's imprisonment in 1930 and her larger than life grandmother Bibi, Tamara Chalabi opens up the secrets of Iraq, its mythologies and its tragedies through the personal stories of her family.
A memoir of filled with human tales, personal discovery, love and loss - set against the tortuous history of Iraq, LATE FOR TEA AT THE DEER PALACE has the literary magic of Isabel Allende with the unique human breadth of WILD SWANS. It opens up avenues into Iraq's legacy, and the histories of its people, that have never been experienced before.
