The Servant

September 1, 2013

Gr 8 Up-Forced to supplement her family's income, Faten must leave behind her village, friends, and schooling to work as a maid in Beirut for a family with two daughters and an unkind, demanding housewife. As she goes about her daily chores, she dreams of returning to school and becoming a nurse in the war-torn city. With the aid of another housekeeper in her building, she seeks help from an admired stranger in the building across the street. Marwan not only facilitates the testing Faten will need to enter college, but he also becomes her clandestine love interest. The teen's plans suddenly come to a halt when her employer discovers that she has lied to them about the days she spent away from work to take her baccalaureate exams. Suddenly, Faten is unemployed and sent back to her hometown where she must convince her angry father that investing in her education will bring the family more money than she makes as a housekeeper. Faten creates an ambitious and independent plan to continue her studies and return to Beirut. This quick, straightforward, Cinderella story mirrors the plight of young girls all over the world who are forced to sacrifice their own goals to support their families. However, this modern-day fairy tale abandons the prince as the problem solver and instead features a heroine whose talent, work ethic, and ambition break the spell of servitude and poverty.-Lynn Rashid, Marriotts Ridge High School, Marriottsville, MD

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April 15, 2013
First published in Arabic in 2010, this is the compelling story of a determined young woman coming of age during the Lebanese civil war in 1987. Faten is a mere 15 when she first makes the long trip from her mountain village to Beirut, where her father has arranged for her to work as a maid to help the family make ends meet. For two years, she does nothing but work, keeping none of the money she earns and getting only a few hours per week to herself. Unsatisfied with this life, Faten longs to go to university to become a nurse. Eventually, she makes contact with Marwan, a handsome neighbor who helps her to arrange to take the exams she'll need to get into college. But when she sneaks away to take the first of the tests, she is caught and fired from her job. Chastened, Faten returns to her village, where she must try to secure her father's understanding, or at least forgiveness, and make her way back to Beirut to pursue her dream. Sharafeddine tells the story in a deliberate, third-person, present-tense voice, creating a narrative with an old-fashioned, rather formal feel and a clear preference for women's self-determination and independence. Fans of literary and historical fiction will be drawn to this rich portrayal of the challenges faced and opportunities forged by brave young women in patriarchal, war-torn Lebanon. (Historical fiction. 12 & up)

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May 15, 2013
Grades 6-9 When Faten turns 17, her father sends her away from her Lebanese mountain village and forces her to work as a servant for a privileged family in Beirut. Her dream is to become a nurse, and after her housework is done, she secretly studies with the help of a kind elderly neighbor and a handsome young engineering student, Marwan. Translated from Arabic by the Lebanese author, the rapid present-tense narrative is a powerful take on the Cinderella story. Never simplistic, the story's twists and turns are surprising. The daughter in the privileged family is spoiled and mean, but she is also a prisoner of the social mold as she dreams of studying modern art and resists an arranged marriage. Even Marwan is tempted by an arranged marriage with an American. Can Faten break free? The novel's climax is when Faten takes the nursing exam at last. The contemporary story is sure to hold readers with its depiction of personal struggles behind the news images of turmoil.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)