{"product_id":"hotline","title":"Hotline","description":"\u003cp\u003eA 2023 Canada Reads Finalist\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLonglisted for the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA vivid love letter to the 1980s and one woman's struggle to overcome the challenges of immigration.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt's 1986, and Muna Heddad is in a bind. She and her son have moved to Montreal, leaving behind a civil war filled with bad memories in Lebanon. She had plans to find work as a French teacher, but no one in Quebec trusts her to teach the language. She needs to start making money, and fast. The only work Muna can find is at a weight-loss center as a hotline operator.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAll day, she takes calls from people responding to ads seen in magazines or on TV. On the phone, she's Mona, and she's quite good at listening. These strangers all have so much to say once someone shows interest in their lives-marriages gone bad, parents dying, isolation, personal inadequacies. Even as her daily life in Canada is filled with invisible barriers at every turn, at the office Muna is privy to her clients' deepest secrets.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFollowing international acclaim for Niko (2011) and The Bleeds (2018), Dimitri Nasrallah has written a vivid elegy to the 1980s, the years he first moved to Canada, bringing the era's systemic challenges into the current moment through this deeply endearing portrait of struggle, perseverance, and bonding.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9781550655940, 1550655949\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e Dimitri Nasrallah\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:none\"\u003e940 5940 55940 655940 949 5949 55949 655949\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Batner Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43934303191128,"sku":"9781550655940","price":21.95,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/7564\/3992\/files\/9781550655940.jpg?v=1775055882","url":"https:\/\/batnerbookstore.com\/products\/hotline","provider":"Batner Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}