Frances Fuller author of the award-winner memoir 'In Borrowed Houses', recently expressed agreement with Fareed Zakaria and Eugene Robinson on President Obama’s reluctance to insert American troops into the war in Syria.
Fareed Zakaria said on CNN on October 18 that decades from now we will be glad that Barack Obama refrained from a more active role in Syria. Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post on Oct 5 wrote that Obama is right to be cautious about choosing friends in Syria and right to pursue a long-term goal in contrast to Putin’s short term plan.
Fuller confesses that the game of international intrigue is a subject on which she prefers to keep silent, her goal being to share the human face of the Middle East. “However, armies in countries that are not theirs turns out to be something I have experienced," Fuller stated. “During the civil war in Lebanon it became necessary to get through military checkpoints daily. Over time I engaged Palestinian militiamen, Syrian soldiers, the Israeli army, and the U.S. Marines. I had to learn to live with alien armies and observe the behavior and attitudes of people around me. I learned in the process that war can feel very personal. A man never forgets who killed his brother. A woman resents after a few days the roadblock of an alien army, even an army that claims to be protecting her home. From what I saw and heard, I believe that a bomb dropped is an enemy made, and a soldier in someone else’s street is not safe."
“It is likely that Russia will stay in Syria long enough to be sorry. I am certain that a bully with bullets is a temporary friend, not a leader."
As the result of her time spent as a missionary, Fuller wrote an award-winning book entitled 'In Borrowed Houses'. 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 They also compose, not a political history, but a historical document of a time and a place.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. Frances Fuller also blogs on issues relating to the Middle East on 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
Posts
