Crescent

An Arab-American Chocolat—a sensual blend of food, love and longing.

Half-Iraqi, half-American Sirine is a cook at Nadia's Cafe, which draws the neighborhood's Arab students, expatriates, and exiles. All are hungry for "real true Arab food" and connection to their homes. One is Hanif Al Eyad, a new hire in the Near Eastern Studies Department at the university who fled Iraq as a young man. Sirine and Han fall in love over food: a baklava they make together, delicate lamb dishes, hummus glistening with olive oil.

Populated by colorful and memorable characters—the lovely Sirine; the handsome Han; Sirine's story-telling uncle, whose fantastic fables are woven into the novel; a poet named Aziz; Nadia and her daughter Mireille—Crescent explores the universal themes of love and loyalty to countries old and new, to those left behind, and to tradition. Some of the characters are learning to live in one country and let go of another, and some are not—a fact that sparks a surprising ending.

DIANA ABU-JABER was born in 1959 in Syracuse, New York, to a Jordanian father and an American mother. She graduated with a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from SUNY in 1986. Abu-Jaber is the author of Arabian Jazz, which won the Oregon Book Award and was a finalist for the national PEN/Hemingway award. She lives in the U.S. and frequently travels to the Mideast.

NIKE DOUKAS has appeared in numerous plays includingCyrano de Bergerac, Major Barbara, Much Ado about Nothing, Everett Beekin, The Beard of Avon, Pygmalion, How the Other Half Loves, Arms and the Man and Green Icebergs. She has also performed at A Contemporary Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, The Old Globe, Mark Taper Forum, Doolittle Theatre, Shakespeare Festival/LA, American Conservatory Theater, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and the California and VITA Shakespeare Festivals. Television and film credits include "Desperate Housewives," "Almost Perfect," "Without a Trace," "Criminal Minds," "Boston Legal," "Malcolm in the Middle," Little Girls in Pretty Boxes and Seven Girlfriends. Ms. Doukas has an MFA from the American Conservatory Theater and is a member of The Antaeus Company.