Twenty-year-old Maya is given one hour to pack one suitcase and flee her home in war-torn Beirut, leaving behind everyone and everything she knows and loves. She rebuilds a new life in Los Angeles, and eventually launches a successful career in the aerospace industry. Despite professional opportunities and glamorous experiences in California, Maya is unable to escape her emotional attachment and sense of responsibility to her home country. She returns to Beirut where she meets a young surgeon, and together they believe they have a role to play in changing the trajectory of their war-torn nation.

Glass Cedars, by Katherine Saad Feghali, is engaging and fast-moving, historical fiction. The story crisscrosses cultures, taking the reader seamlessly between bomb scarred Beirut and the glitz of Los Angeles. It brings to life the richness of Lebanon's history and traditions and gives firsthand insight into the people of the Middle East.

A tale of fate, passion and conflict, Glass Cedars shows us of the value of friendship, how we are more similar than different, and reminds us life can change forever in a single instant.