Beirut in Shades of Grey

In Lebanon-native Mills's first novel, 25-year-old Rasha Halwani, daughter of a conservative Muslim family in war-torn 1981 Beirut, suffers through a joyless, stressful life in too-close proximity to the ongoing civil war. She takes a summer vacation to Paris from her job teaching English, and finds herself, within the span of 10 days, falling in love with Reuters photojournalist Luke Elliot. Luke is as rootless as Rasha is connected to her deeply traditional mother and father. So when Luke shows up unannounced at Rasha's door just after the conclusion of an Israeli incursion, Rasha's father immediately and correctly suspects the worst. Consorting with Westerners can also bring unwanted attention in sectarian Beirut, and Rasha's father forbids her from doing anything that would disgrace or endanger the family. She tries to abide by his command, until Luke, out of sheer callow imprudence, makes it impossible. The love story itself is lightweight and conventional, but the smaller intervening scenes-abrupt peril in a taxi; boredom waiting for a bombardment to end; anxiety and paranoia in any public place at all-make this a vivid portrait of a country in turmoil.