Issa J Boullata's characters are mainly emigrants to Canada and the USA from Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt and Syria. George, Kamal, Mayy, Abdullah, Nadia, William, all have to begin their lives again, learn how to deal with their memories, with pasts that cannot be relived, with exile and loss. How do you settle into a new life? What happens to all your old relations? How do you go about making new ones? Can you find happiness? Can you fall in love again? This book includes a collection of tales that looks resolutely and quietly at life's hopes, dreams and loves. It also has an essay on his Literary Influences entitled Books and I.