Congratulations to Professor Emerita Evelyne Accad on the publication of her bilingual collection of short stories: “La Maison de la Tendresse: Nouvelles sur les femmes libanaises/House of Tenderness: Short stories on Lebanese women” (L’Harmattan, 2021).
These short stories trace the will of many Lebanese women, all faiths combined, to regain self-confidence and inner calm after the violence suffered in their family circles. Helped by the attentive listening, the consideration, and the tenderness shown by the counselors of Beit el Hanane, a non-profit, non-denominational, and non-discriminatory, charitable organization that deals with the problems of abused women in Lebanon, women featured in these stories are building new solid and lasting foundations for another life. Faced with a world of conflicts and of emergencies, in which poverty is gaining ground every day, this collection takes on a universal topic, transposable to many contemporary societies where women are among the first victims of violence and conflict.