The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them Through a War

This is the kind of book that you read in a few hours and it stays with you for a lifetime. Through whatsapp, skype and zoom over patchy, smuggled internet connections, the story of an underground library in Daraya, a town under siege for four long years by the Syrian Regime, was meticulously recorded by Delphine Minoui. This is a story of survival, and the power of books to provide education, democracy and above all - hope, when all else has been stolen.

As a book-lover and someone working for a refugee charity, this incredible story brought together my two biggest interests and completely broke my heart. I wept at the injustice, for the community forged under eight thousand barrels of explosives, massacres at an unbelievable scale, and years of terror gone without aid from international communities. More than that though, is the sheer resilience of this band of young men and the remaining families they protected. With degrees interrupted, dreams postponed, and loved ones fled or killed. They maintained their protest for democracy for as long as possible; until even the scarce tree leaves they boiled up for dinner were napalmed and breastmilk dried up through malnutrition. These men kept their heads and their hearts together through books.

Books are their best way to escape the war, if only temporarily. A melody of words against the dirge of bombs. Reading - a humble human gesture that binds them to the mad hope of a return to peace.

It started with the collapse of an old professors house, and the discovery of hundreds of books. Too good an opportunity to miss, Ahmad and his friends collected up the books and drove them to an underground space, deciding to build shelves and meticulously label each book in case it’s owner was able to retrieve them one day. Despite not being big reader’s initially, the need to clutch onto any surviving culture was deeply felt. Out of the rubble and the destruction, books emerged in their thousands over the years, and the space became a place for discussion, learning, family and safety. New ideas for peaceful democracy were encouraged, alongside rudimentary psychology for staying sane as a group of grieving individuals.

They taught themselves english, maths and politics, and even uncovered a projector to watch movies. Favourite books included internationally renowned stories such as The Alchemist and works of Shakespeare, and the American Self-help guide ‘7 habits’. Minoui writes this book as a record of their story, a work that unfolded as the siege continued and she hung by her phone or laptop for days, often wondering whether she would ever hear from them again. She weaves political understanding into her account with a clear notion that she is creating a space for them to tell their side of the story, when the regime and propaganda both nationally and internationally control the narrative. She raises questions of extremism and is met with awareness and clear answers.

Whenever connection is lost from the force of yet another explosion, his voice comes in jerks and starts, blanketing my desk in Istanbul with small, unstitched words, defying the roar of helicopters, seizing in rare lulls to slip in a coherent sentence.

It’s a phenomenal achievement, and one of the most important books I’ve ever read.

CW: War, Siege, Trauma, Death, Grief, Violence, Starvation, Torture, Massacre, Chemical Weapons