involvement in their Lebanese culture as well as
people license to question: do you belong here? And
their Anglo-Australian one, whereas his mother,
belonging is a very big theme of the whole book.
because it was so taboo at the time that she married
his dad, that she actually eloped, and her family
Sophie’s struggling with belonging too, because
didn’t speak to her for a very long time... and that
she’s torn between being too liberal for her
was the reality for some women that married
Lebanese community, and too ethnic for the
interracially, so he doesn’t really have a lot of
Aussies... And his parents’ story is one that
exposure to the Lebanese culture, so it’s something
you’ve lived out in your own life...
that’s very new for him.
In a sense, yes.
So it’s in him but he doesn’t understand it...
So you brought home a boy, who was an AngloThat’s right, and because he’s just moved in with his
Australian boy – tell us about that, and how that
grandparents, the Lebanese side, it’s something that
played out with your parents...
he’s learning... it’s in the school around him but
because he hasn’t been exposed to it, it gives other