A lively often hilarious and always warm hearted exploration of Arabic language and culture After years of studying Arabic Zora ONeill faced an increasing certainty that she was not only failing to master the language but was also driving herself crazy. So she stepped away. But a decade later she still couldnt shake her fascination with Arabic and returned to her studies this time with a new approach. ONeill embarks on a grand tour through the Middle East -- to Egypt the UAE Lebanon and Morocco -- packing her dictionaries her unsinkable sense of humor and her talent for making fast friends of strangers. She travels along quiet bougainvillea-lined streets and amid the lively buzz of crowded cities and medinas. She jumps off the tourist track into families homes and local hotspots and makes a part of the world that is thousands of miles away seem right next door. With lively prose and an eye for the deeply absurd and the deeply human ONeill explores the indelible links between culture and communication. All Strangers Are Kin is a powerful testament to the dynamism of language and how learning another tongue leaves you rich with so much more than words.