Syria's Secret Library by Mike Thomson memoir Not only a picture of

Not only a picture of an extraordinary time in Britain's cultural history - and a hitherto unseen portrait of some of the brightest minds of a generation - this book tells the funny

through family conversations

the emotional side of human politics

The hardback versions present expanded stories for beginning readers

Syria's Secret Library by Mike Thomson memoir Not only a picture ofDaraya lies on the fringe of Damascus, just south west of the Syrian Capital. Yet it lives in another world. Besieged by Syrian government forces since 2011, its people were deprived of food, bombarded by bombs and missiles, and shot at by snipers. Its buildings lay in ruins; office buildings, shops and family homes shattered by the constant shelling from government forces. But deep beneath this scene of frightening devastation lay a secret library.