Until I Held You Again
Until I Held You Again is a poignant and lyrical short story told in ten powerful heartbeats. This story traces a mother's emotional journey through love and loss—revealing how motherhood is shaped, tested, and redefined through moments of deep vulnerability in a contradiction-filled city of Beirut where beauty and grief coexist.
Written by Lebanese author Sara Zantout, this poetic short story offers an intimate reflection on what it means to be a woman navigating personal and cultural memory in a city that mirrors both strength and sorrow. Motherhood as transformation and endurance
Memory's fragility and power
Identity shaped by emotional upheaval
Beirut's fractured beauty: a living metaphor
To explore how motherhood, memory, and identity are shaped by emotional complexity—especially in a Middle Eastern setting. It pays tribute to women who hold themselves together amid contradictions, celebrating both quiet strength and vulnerability.
To explore how motherhood, memory, and identity are shaped in the emotional landscape of the Middle East. A tribute to women who hold themselves together in fractured worlds where quiet strength, vulnerability, and love become acts of power.
Perfect for readers who appreciate: Middle Eastern women's fiction
Stories of motherhood and memory
Emotional fiction of resilience and hope
Poetic, literary reflections on love, identity, and strength
Sara Zantout is a Lebanese writer and journalist based in Dubai. Drawing on extensive experience in writing and storytelling, she brings emotional depth and lyrical style to her literary work, Until I Held You Again. Authentic Middle Eastern female perspective
Ten heartbeats of raw emotional narrative
Compact, poetic short-story format
Beirut's vibrant, conflicted culture
Nuanced portrayal of motherhood and identity
Elif Shafak
Hala Alyan
Nawal El Saadawi
Ghada Al Saman
Bold, lyrical stories of passion, identity, and Middle Eastern womanhood.
Explore Sara Zantout's work at sarazantout.com
Subscribe for updates and new releases.
Follow on Instagram: @sara.zantout
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