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