Bend Like the Willow: A Tale of an Arab Promise by Alberta author Susan Glasier is a many-layered story of a young naïve American girl who sets out for her first year of university and finds instead a shocking introduction into a cross-cultural marriage of contradiction, mystery and eventual heartbreak.
“If I take you to my country,” he tells her, “you must learn to bend like the willow or you will snap.” Along the path to bending like the willow, she discovers that life in post-war Algeria with two babies is as fraught with danger and sadness as is the man she married. Both are burdened with hopes and expectations that can never be fulfilled. When war breaks out in the Middle East, he sends her away with his children promising they can return when there is peace.
In the end, Bend Like the Willow is the tale of a woman who loves a man and a man who loves his country. He is so committed to honouring his love of country and tradition that he fulfills the promise he made to his wife’s father—even though it means breaking apart four lives.
“Susan Glasier has written a riveting memoir that reads like a novel. Bend Like the Willow is one of those rare books that gets under your skin and enters the bloodstream. It left me in tears.”—Wolfgang Carstens, Epic Rites Press
“I couldn’t put Bend Like the Willow down—read it in two nights—it really got my attention.”—Roy Cust, R C Appraisals
