Four Ladies

<p>From Middle Eastern storyteller Hussin Alkheder comes the <strong>FOUR LADIES</strong> a collection of short stories influenced by the four major cities he's lived in: Damascus Dubai Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai. These four grand ladies have played important roles in his life journey. </p><p> In the <strong><em>Four Ladies</em></strong><em> </em> we find three stories based in Damascus the cradle of history: <strong>Hand Made Crutches</strong> makes us feel the suffering of a mother with four daughters and a disabled son; <strong>The Green Bus</strong> gives a glimpse of Damascus both before and after the war; <strong>Love in the Time of Corona</strong> portrays the way some Syrians deal with the virus. </p><p> Next Hussin is our tour guide in the luxurious city of Dubai: <strong>Baking Bread</strong> is a murder mystery; <strong>Lucky Ending </strong>tells how a Syrian tourist in Dubai is reminded of his house when he sees the fantastic buildings; and <strong>Hamama</strong> is a sad story about a road-killed pigeon. </p><p> From there we fly to the enchanting city of Kuala Lumpur: <strong>Akev</strong> takes place in one of the modern buildings of Kuala Lumpur opposite the twin towers; <strong>The Power of Words</strong> tells of a conversation between the words on the page when they interrupt their author's writing; in <strong>Bedtime Story</strong> we learn of a father who lacked parental love. </p><p> The last three stories come from the mega city of Shanghai with its miraculous system: <strong>The Writer</strong> takes us into the future to meet a construction tycoon who dreams of being a writer; <strong>The Cure</strong> introduces us to a spiritual man who spent ten years feeding stray cats on the streets of Shanghai; and finally <strong>On the Metro</strong> deals with a passenger who thinks he sees evidence of a murder on a passenger's smartphone. </p>