Synopsis

In the summer of 2013, while war rumors in neighboring Syria signal the imminent fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad, a young and reckless Italian reporter in Beirut meets a renowned Syrian war photographer with a horrific secret. A captivating and all-encompassing love blossoms between Nina and Omar, so much so that he is persuaded to return to his native Aleppo, taking her with him. And there, while Omar attempts to immortalize with his camera the plight of a people thirsting for freedom, Nina will encounter intense and extraordinary characters, such as Khaled, who fights for civil rights and freedom against the government forces who killed his brother during a peaceful demonstration; Amal, a beautiful, independent, and somewhat scabrous woman in her Islamic context; and Walid, a thirteen-year-old boy whose only desire is to blow himself up to avenge his father's death. But in that atrocious war, Nina, the "Italiye," will also discover that behind the more or less honest ideals proclaimed (by the Syrian government, the opposition, ISIS) lie ancestral feuds and personal vendettas that will ultimately exact a heavy toll on the passion between her and Omar. Drawing on her own personal experiences during her years as a war correspondent, Imma Vitelli has written a novel that is not only a moving tribute to the tormented people of Syria, but above all a profound love story.