Birds in the Rain

by Rana Hanna

When 16-year-old Michael Cape goes missing on the eve of a devastating war, only one person, Marc, knows where he may be. Unfortunately for Michael’s mother Layla, a young widow still reeling from grief over the death of her husband Sebastian, Marc is the one person she is trying to avoid.As Layla and Marc embark on the search for her son and hit one dead end after another, they have to face and come to terms with their own tumultuous pasts. Layla is unable to forgive her father for trying to separate her from Michael and for sending her away to boarding school at the age of twelve, following the death of her mother. Marc, an ex-militia man who has become a father figure to Michael and whose relationship to Layla is overwrought at best, is still trying to come to terms with the disappearance of his own brother during the Lebanese Civil War.

Set against the backdrop of the 2006 Lebanese-Israeli war, Birds in the Rain by Rana Hanna is a story of love, loss, and resilience and what it takes to find the light in the darkest of times.

310 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 5, 2025

Reviews

[Grace Beadle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tale of a missing teenager during the 2006 Lebanese war told through multigenerational voices. A beautiful and painful read, by a Lebanese author, that shows how life for the normal person continues even in war and the fight people living in conflict zones endure to just survive. A must read

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot recommend this book enough!! From the moment I started Birds of the Rain, I could barely put it down. It’s an incredibly engaging and beautifully written read that explores split identity and displacement caused by war in a way that feels both intimate and accessible. Hanna brings each character to life by alternating perspectives in every chapter, often revisiting the same moments from different points of view. This approach powerfully shows how much our interpersonal relationships shape who we become and how, in a world filled with instability, they often serve as the only source of stability we have. The vignette-style storytelling keeps the book moving while still carrying a lot of emotional weight.

As someone from the US, this book really opened my eyes to how present and unavoidable war is in the daily lives of people in Lebanon. It gave me a much deeper sense of empathy for those who live with conflict at their doorstep and made me reflect on my own privilege and on how easy it is to experience war as a distant headline rather than a lived reality.

This is an easy but powerful read, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone looking for a meaningful, eye-opening story that stays with you long after you finish.