Excerpt from Beirut 39 by Samuel Shimon, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Haneef bade farewell with the words that his limited Arabic vocabulary allowed, and I bade farewell to him as I crossed the remaining metres of the bridge. I gripped the phone for a moment in irritation, trying to imprison some of Haneef’s voice inside it in order to hold a more decent conversation later, one in keeping with the refined humanity he deserved, not one that grew more uncouth the older I got.

I opened the window, hoping that the air blowing in would explain my watering eyes, and waited for a question from my wife who’d been watching me closely since the conversation began:

‘Who was that?’

‘Haneef, our old driver.’

‘Why the tears?’

‘I miss him.’

‘The driver?!’

Translated by Anthony Calderbank

Excerpted from Beirut 39 by Samuel Shimon. Copyright © 2010 by Samuel Shimon. Excerpted by permission of Bloomsbury. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.