In 2003 Osama al-Kharrat returns to Beirut after many years in America to stand vigil at his fathers deathbed. As the family gathers stories begin to unfold: Osamas grandfather was a hakawati or storyteller and his bewitching tales are interwoven with classic stories of the Middle East. Here are Abraham and Isaac; Ishmael father of the Arab tribes; the beautiful Fatima; Baybars the slave prince who vanquished the Crusaders; and a host of mischievous imps. Through Osama we also enter the world of the contemporary Lebanese men and women whose stories tell a larger heartbreaking tale of seemingly endless war conflicted identity and survival. With The Hakawati Rabih Alameddine has given us an Arabian Nights for this century.