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As a practicing Buddhist, I might seem like an unlikely candidate to write a novel about love and friendship between Muslims and Jews, but Sweet Dates in Basra was inspired as much by my Buddhist faith as by my father’s experiences of growing up in Iraq. The novel opens in the 1930s with two best…

Growing up, I never heard the words, “Once upon a time…” before my father told a bedtime story. He always opened his made-up tales with the phrase, “I was a cook for the Queen of Iraq…” The adventures he described were filled with swords and daggers, Bedouins and camels, treasure and love. I have these…

We think these suggested questions for discussion will help you deepen your understanding and appreciation of the issues and themes in the novel, but they can’t help but give away some of the plot. So give yourself the pleasure of reading the book first, then read, think about and discuss some of these questions with…