num_pages: 280
description: A vivid love letter to the 1980s and one womans struggle to overcome the challenges of immigrationIts 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.All day she takes calls from people responding to ads seen in magazines or on TV. On the phone shes Muna and shes 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.
language: English
title: Hotline
publisher: Esplanade Books