The Gardener of Baghdad by Ahmad Ardalan
Adnan leads a weary existence as a bookshop owner in modern-day, war-torn Baghdad, where bombings, corruption and assault are everyday occurrences and the struggle to survive has suffocated the joy out of life for most. But when he begins to clean out his bookshop of forty years to leave his city in search of somewhere safer, he comes across the story of Ali, the Gardener of Baghdad, Adnan rediscovers through a memoir handwritten by the gardener decades ago that beauty, love and hope can still exist, even in the darkest corners of the world
Find more from this author on:
About the author:
Ahmad Ardalan was born in Baghdad in 1979. At the age of two, he moved with his parents to Vienna, Austria, where he spent most of his childhood and underwent his primary studies. After his father’s diplomatic mission finished at the end of 1989, he returned to Iraq, where he continued his studies and graduated from the University of Dentistry. As a result of the unstable political, military, social, and economic conditions in his home country, Ahmad decided to leave Iraq and move to the UAE. After facing difficulties to pursue his career in dentistry, he opted to pursue employment in the business world. Since then, Ardalan has held several senior roles within the pharmaceutical and FMCG industries, throughout much of the Middle East. His early childhood in a mixed cultural environment, as well as his world travels, increased his passion for learning about cultures of the world and inspired him to pen The Clout of Gen, his first novel. After eleven years of being away, Ahmad returned to Baghdad in January 2013 on a visit that was full of mixed emotions. Inspired by his trip to Iraq, he wrote his second novel, The Gardener of Baghdad.
What inspired you to write your book?
Daily pain of my hometown, Baghdad.
Here is a short sample from the book:
Two people, one city, different times; connected by a memoir. Can love exist in a city destined for decades of misery?
Related products
-
Perfect Need – Seven Tales of Love and Passion by Barbara L.B. Storey
Close your eyes.
Fall in love.
Stay there.
~ Rumi
You never know who you’ll fall in love with, or why, or whether it’s a good idea – ask Rowan in A Star, A Stone. A sudden rainstorm – Stormy Weather – or even an exercise class – The Queen of Heaven – can be the spark that creates abandon and exhilarating passion between two lovers. In Dolce, a full-course Italian meal prepared with love whets . . . other appetites.
The stories in Perfect Need explore what love and passion can become, how they can affect two people for a moment, or for a lifetime; when they tumble into a love they never expected; when they decide it’s worth the risk to stay . . . or not.
-
What Do Lesbians Do In Bed? 21 Sapphic Stories by Giselle Renarde
Have you ever wondered what lesbians do when they get together? Is it all fingers and scissors and lips between legs, or is there WAY more to the slippery story of lesbian sex?
In this hot new anthology, enjoy twenty-one explicit tales of lesbian love. From shoe fetish to opera gloves, sex in public to quiet winter mornings, from a taste of taboo to strap-on DP to extremes that shan’t be mentioned here to full-on Sapphic bukakke, even connoisseurs of fine girl-on-girl action are likely to discover a new idea or two in this sexy new collection.
Whether you can appreciate this book’s title ironically or you’re authentically curious about what girls who love girls do in bed (or in parked cars or at the office or in a church basement or in a restaurant bathroom), grab a copy today and get in on the nitty-gritty secrets of lesbian sex.
Giselle Renarde’s erotic fiction has appeared in over 100 anthologies, including prestigious collections like Best Lesbian Erotica, Best Lesbian Romance, Best Women’s Erotica, Girl Fever, and the Lambda Award-winning collection Wild Girls, Wild Nights.
-
Some Like it Geek by C. Jordan
Fall Quiet by Zoe York
To Score or Not to Score by Angela Quarles
One blind date. One case of mistaken identity. One Navy SEAL faced with his high school crush. What could go wrong?
The Adorkable Girl and the Geek (Gone Geek 5) by Sidney Bristol
The Girl Next Door by C. Jordan
Bath Bomb by Clara Leigh (Forbidden Bad Boys)
Recipe for a wild weekend: Take one geeky actor, a video game idol, and cinema’s best known towel model. Add a chocolate-box cottage, a liberal sprinkling of snow… make that lots of snow, and an oversized bathtub.
Result: THREESOME!
In the Spotlight by Ally Decker
Pretending to date a movie star definitely wasn’t on Sylvia Urban’s agenda but a girl has to do what a girl has to do. And after a paparazzo catches them in rather uncompromising position, this is exactly what this girl has to do.
Greg Abrams really needs everything to go right if he wants his new project to get green-lighted, but when the cute Broadway geek almost literally falls into his life, things get complicated really fast.
As the pair grows closer, the ‘pretend’ part of pretend dating gets thrown out of the window, but after they started off as a lie, it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s not.
Play by Olivia Devon
Aaron Eldridge’s passion for his latest virtual reality program skyrockets when he meets a woman who shares his obsession for all things geek. The premier launch of HyperLyfe at Lux, Manhattan’s hottest sex club, would be a perfect opportunity to get Katie Martinez to check out his new toy, and the kinky sex ideas he has in mind.
What if your deepest fantasies could come true?
-
Finding Alice by Stephane Morris
Romantic, sensual and enlightening.
This novel creates a new genre by taking a refreshingly different angle to other romantic novels. A love affair leads to a journey of self-discovery that is both thought provoking and enlightening.
John Mason is a successful businessman. A beautiful free spirited woman brings out passions John never knew existed, with consequences he could never have imagined. What unresolved inner conflicts from his youth does the love affair expose? Can he overcome them? If he does where will that leave him? The outcome is unpredictable.
A life-changing journey that is both fascinating and confronting.
Literally, a page-turner that starts slowly but will ultimately grip you and hold you to the end.
For mature readers.
-
Duty and Desire by Kristina Wright
The only thing stronger than the call of duty is the call of desire. Duty and Desire enlists a team of hot-blooded men and women from every branch of the military who serve their country and follow their hearts. Stateside and abroad, these warriors meet passion and danger head-on.
From the army grunt who unwraps his wife like a gift in “Fighting for Fresno,” to the injured soldier who sets his heart on the line for the nurse who healed his body and soul in “Out of Time,” these tales embrace the ache of deployment and celebrate the sweet relief of shore leave. With a foreword by bestselling author Cat Johnson, Duty and Desire features stories of U.S. soldiers, sailors, aviators, marines and many more. Uniforms have never been sexier.
With contributed stories by Delilah Devlin, Connie Wilkins, Shanna Germain, Craig J. Sorensen, Ericka Hiatt, Kelly Maher, Lucy Felthouse, Catherine Paulssen, Anya Richards, Sacchi Green, Elizabeth L. Brooks, J.K. Coi, Charlotte Stein, Christine D’Abo, Mercy Loomis, Lynn Townsend, Michelle Augello-Page, and Kristina Wright.
-
New Adult Romance Boxed Set (5 Book Bundle) by Emme Rollins, Julia Kent, Anna Antonia, Aubrey Rose, Helena Newbury
Bad-boy CEOs. Naked lead singers. Soulful intellectuals. Dancers. Rock stars. Summer is hot, and so are these men…. The New Adult Romance Boxed Set has FIVE COMPLETE NOVELS for just $.99 — a special sale price (regular price $9.99).
All novels from top 100 New Adult Amazon authors, this collection includes USA Today Bestseller Julia Kent, Top 100 Amazon Bestseller Emme Rollins, top 10 UK Amazon bestseller Helena Newbury, and more…
Dear Rockstar by Emme Rollins — She’s obsessed with a rock star. He’s crazy enough to want to be one. Sometimes the best things in life are crazy. Amazon Top 100 Bestseller.
Random Acts of Crazy by Julia Kent — Darla isn’t the type to pick up hitchhikers — especially naked ones. But when she makes an exception for handsome Trevor, she finds herself caught between two delicious men in this fun-filled, steamy USA Today bestseller.
Mad for You by Anna Antonia – Loving Gabriel Gordon was like trying to love the sun…Emma Adams was destined to burn. Given their tumultuous natures and personal demons, there was only one way a relationship between them could survive: in madness.
Me, Cinderella? by Aubrey Rose — One kind deed can change your life forever…. Brynn Tomlin could never afford to follow her heart, but when she buys a cup of coffee for a stranger sitting in the cold, she sets into motion a course of events that can only lead to one kind of fairy-tale ending.
Dance For Me by Helena Newbury — When troubled ballet student Natasha agrees to be the muse of millionaire designer Darrell Carner, she doesn’t expect to fall for him…or to discover that his past is just as dark as hers. Can two broken souls heal each other…or will their secrets tear them apart?
FIVE New Adult novels filled with men with a passion for the women they can’t live without.
-
Three Happy Endings (Secrets, Surprises and Submission: Three Passionate Romances from New York Times Bestselling Author) by Opal Carew
“TOP 15 B&N BESTSELLER (THREE)
TOP 100 E ROMANCE ON AMAZON (THREE)
Three men are better than one…
Secrets, surprises, and submission – three torrid tales of triple passion!
THREE
Hot steamy dreams… a sexy stranger… and his two brothers… all add up to a sexy adventure she’ll never forget.
Lori’s steamy dreams about a hot hard stranger are hitting fever pitch. She needs way more than eye contact and a smile across a crowded subway station. An instant connection sizzled between them and now Lori, who’s never believed in love at first sight, is its helpless victim.
When Lori goes to her best friend’s cabin for the weekend to spend time with Marie, her new husband and his brothers, she’s surprised to wind up face-to-face with her fantasy stranger. But he’s Marie’s husband!
When she meets his brothers, however, she finds that there just might be a way to make her dream come true.
Now Lori is experiencing her wildest fantasy yet, three ultra-sexy men all focused on her. But she wants more than a steamy dream brought to life. Because she’s in love. But can her sexy stranger return her love?
Note: This intriguing short story is scorching hot, with more than one handsome hunk to bring your wildest fantasies to life. Consider yourself warned!
THREE MEN AND A BRIDE
What do you do when you can’t stop lusting after your new husband’s two gorgeous brothers?
Can Marie successfully suppress her fantasies of the three brothers making wild, luxuriant love to her, or will she have to endanger her happy marriage by admitting her feelings to her husband, Drake?
Although this is the second story in the erotic THREE series, this steamy read is the prequel to Three. You can enjoy Three Men and a Bride on it’s own, or after you have read THREE.
THREE SECRETS
Keeping one secret is intriguing. Two is naughty. Three… deserves to be punished.
Sharing secrets has never been so exhilarating…
When they met in Paris, Nicole and Abel enjoyed a sensual, romantic two month fling. The last thing Nicole wanted was to fall head over heels for this sweet, loving man, because she knew he would never accept the truth about her. Unfortunately, the heart wants what it wants, and hers wanted Abel. But Nicole was not one to be controlled by anyone or anything, so once they returned home, she walked away.
When the pain of losing Abel became too much, Nicole finally decided to share her secret with him. Little did she know he had a secret of his own.
Will Abel’s secret extinguish Nicole’s craving for him once and for all? Will Nicole’s revelation bring Abel to his knees?
This is a collection of super hot short stories.
Length: 25,500 words
Plus excerpts from The Office Slave (Volume 1 of The Office Slave Series) and His To Possess (about billionaires, bikers and bad boys all rolled into one).”
-
Top 100 Reasons to Love: 12 Book Boxed Set of the Most Popular Best Selling Shifter, Billionaire, Rock Star & Bad Boy Romances by Julia Kent, Aubrey Rose, Cerys du Lys, Adriana Hunter, Eve Langlais, Emma South, Marina Maddix, Deanna Roy, Dez Burke, Krista Lakes, Marian Tee, Michelle Fox
“Her First Billionaire & Her Second Billionaire by Julia Kent — Two secret billionaires. One curvy woman. Zero reasons to choose.
Me, Cinderella? by Aubrey Rose — A sweet BBW new adult Cinderella story with just a touch of spice.
The Billionaire’s Ultimatum: His Absolute Need by Cerys du Lys — Falling in love wasn’t supposed to be a part of Jessika’s temporary job description.
Taming the Alpha by Adriana Hunter — A contemporary BBW shifter romance.
Two’s a Couple, Three’s the Law by Eve Langlais — Bad boy werewolf or suave vampire? Why choose when the law demands she take on two?
Remember Our Song by Emma South — Can the lightning of true love strike twice after amnesia tears the perfect couple apart?
Laid Bear by Marina Maddix– Can true love survive when worlds collide?
Forever Innocent by Deanna Roy — Torn apart by tragedy. Reunited by chance. A love to never let go.
First Moon by Michelle Fox — A curvy beauty feels the bite of the wolf and heeds the call of the wild.
The Rockstar I’ve Loved for So Long by Marian Tee — A new adult billionaire rock star romance.
Skin Deep by Dez Burke — A scarred race car driver. A beauty afraid to take a chance. Can their love overcome?
Champagne Kisses by Krista Lakes — A contemporary romance with lost love & second chances.”
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.