Druze Belgrade

The novel tells the story of Hana Yaqub, a Christian man from Beirut, whose profession was selling eggs. He happened to be on the docks of the port when a group of fighting Druze were taken away, as a result of the civil war in Mount Lebanon between them and the Maronites, which erupted in 1860. The Ottoman decree issued a decision to deport 550 Druze to the prisons of the Kingdom in Bulgaria, as punishment for their attack on the Maronite Christians. Hana Yaqub was included with them, where he was exiled and taken by sea to Belgrade Fortress at the borders of the Ottoman Empire, instead of another person who was released after his father paid a bribe to the Ottoman officer. The novel revolves around Hana's suffering and that of the other prisoners over 12 years of imprisonment in Belgrade and other Balkan countries. This journey was followed by much suffering. Some of them died in Belgrade Fortress, others in the Serb and Montenegro and Pristina, due to the harsh nature. Despite this, the prison united the discordant, as those who fought among themselves, once placed in the same place, became reconciled, which is the core of the historical event. At home, the novel tells about Hana Yaqub's wife, Helana Constantine, and their daughter, Barbara, and how the absence of the husband, who left in the morning with a basket of eggs and did not return for twelve years, affected them. How the wife struggled and resisted all hardships, with one hope — that the husband would return.