“A botany professor in pursuit of a rare Acacia along the road between Beirut and Damascus witnesses the massacre of seven people on a bus and hears the last words of one of the victims; a young man he collided into earlier that day. Thus begins the mystery of who the young man was, why he had a telescope pointed into the professor’s apartment, how the professor’s hometown fits into the young man’s familial history, and who orchestrated the killings, which also took the life of a respected government official. Taha’s home country of Lebanon sets the war-torn landscape as family secrets and hidden treasures open to the professor and his girlfriend while they trace the young victim’s life story. There’s a Hitchcockian tension as each peeled layer of history is carefully revealed, so it comes as no surprise that Taha is a student of film, nor that the novel is in development for a movie. In between twists in the mystery there are delectable moments of banter and conversation between the two protagonists. Taha’s novel is a welcome revelation in the mode of Salman Rushdie’s literary history-rich tales, though it is more straightforward. In all, a beautiful tale of loss, love, and the decisions that shape us.” — Booklist (starred review)