Druze Belgrade the story Hana Yaqub

The novel tells the story of Hana Yaqoub, a Christian man from Beirut, whose profession is selling eggs. He happened to be on the port's docks when a group of fighting Druze was taken away, as a result of the civil war in Mount Lebanon between them and the Maronites, which broke out in 1860. The Ottoman firman issued a decision to deport 550 Druze to the prisons of the Kingdom in Bulgaria, as punishment for their assault on the Maronite Christians. Hana Yaqoub was included among them, where he was exiled and taken by sea to Belgrade Fortress at the edge 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 and the other prisoners' suffering over 12 years of imprisonment in Belgrade and other Balkan countries. This journey was followed by much suffering. Some died in Belgrade Fortress, others in Serbia, Montenegro, and Pristina, due to the harsh conditions. Despite this, the prison united the disparate, as those who fought among themselves, once placed together, became reconciled, which is the essence of the historical event. In the homeland, the novel tells about Hana Yaqoub's wife, Helen Qastantin, 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.