Ali & Nino

"Ali & Nino" is a book as old and as culturally rich as the region it was written about ... the Caspian region. The book is centered upon this young couple during the on-set of WWI. However, while WWI never actually reached the doors of the Caspian, there was another war taking place over this region between the Russians and Islamic-Turks (1917-1920). While this clash of East meets West was raging, Ali & Nino struggled through similar clashes internally. Ali came from a deeply-rooted, wealthy Islamic family and Nino was a beautiful, westernized Georgian Christian. Not only do they take turns eating at the table and on a floor rug, but they play their roles of running from and standing up to fight the those who invade their beloved home.

While this battle of East & West began many, many years ago, and these countries are now independent, the Caspian region has far from settled this struggle. This struggle being where they fit in the world. The hands of the West tightly hold the capital and pour money into it's oil rigs. Some desolate villages, jobless or filled with refugees, scrape to get by winter after winter. The entire country is fighting to keep certain traditions and customs alive in order to maintain a sense of individuality, while also desiring to conform to the structure of the western world. These people have endured a lot in their past. And their years of growing pains have only just begun.

Ali & Nino witnessed their beloved homeland slip hopelessly away into the hands of their political enemy. My prayer is that we would not witness these people fall hopelessly into the hands of a spiritual enemy.