Frances Fuller, award winning author of 'In Borrowed Houses', has denounced the U. S. State Department’s apathy toward Lebanon, asking, “How can we show so little concern for such a crucial country at this dangerous moment in history?”
In response to the U. S. government’s failure to appoint a new ambassador to succeed David Hale in Lebanon, Fuller wrote to the Middle East Bureau of the State Department to ask for reasons but received no answer to her question.
Fuller points out that the prominent English language newspaper, the Beirut Daily Star, suggested on August 22 that this failure implies apathy toward Lebanon. She stresses that Lebanon is deserving of U.S. attention, being not only the friendliest country in the Arabic-speaking world, but the most pluralistic in the Middle East and in a perilous situation. “While pressured on all sides by the conflict in Syria and struggling with internal weaknesses, Lebanon has absorbed refugees equal in number to one-third of its own population and requires political, financial and emotional support. Is this the way we treat our friends when they are in trouble? Lebanon needs an American ambassador, and if we are going to have any positive impact in the Middle East, we need our relationship with Lebanon,” Fuller says.
Told in short episodes, Fuller’s book reveals the alienation, confusion and courage of civilians in the Lebanese civil war, introducing to the reader a variety of real people with whom the author interacts: editors, salesmen, neighbors, refugees, soldiers, missionaries, lawyers, shepherds, artists, students. With these people she works, studies, plays games, prays, laughs and cries, all to the accompaniment of gunfire. Together these small stories tell what war is like for civilians caught on a battlefield, and they create the impression of the Lebanese as a fun-loving, witty, patient and resilient people. They also compose, not a political history, but a historical document of a time and a place.
Critics have praised ‘In Borrowed Houses.’ A judge in the 22nd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards called 'In Borrowed Houses' “…a well written book full of compassion…a captivating story…”. Another reviewer described the book as “Wise, honest, sensitive, funny, heart-wrenching…”. Colin Chapman, lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Near East School of Theology in Beirut said, “….western Christians and Middle Eastern Christians need to read this story…full of remarkable perceptiveness and genuine hope.”
Frances Fuller is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below or by email at frances0516@att.net. Fuller's book is available at Amazon and other book retailers. A free ebook sample from 'In Borrowed Houses' is available at http://www.payhip.com/francesfuller. More information is available at her website at http://www.inborrowedhouseslebanon.com.
About Frances Fuller:
Frances Fuller spent thirty years in the violent Middle East and for twenty-four of those years was the director of a Christian publishing program with offices in Lebanon. While leading the development of spiritual books in the Arabic language, she survived long years of civil war and invasions.
Contact:
Frances Fuller
frances0516@att.net
http://www.inborrowedhouseslebanon.com
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