Writer and architect Suad Amiry, who was born in an old neighbourhood of Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, takes her reader by the hand through not only the narrow alleys and lively souqs adjacent to the grand Umayyad mosque, but also into the intimate spaces of her rich merchant grandfather’s Baroudi Mansion. Through a web of interwoven personal stories and an intricate mix of simple, complicated or sometimes devious characters, Amiry travels across space and time, spanning three generations of family history.