Picture in the Sand

by Peter Blauner Narrated by Sean Rohani

Overview

Ali Hassan, an Egyptian-American businessman in Brooklyn, reveals a secret past of activism and heartbreak in an attempt to keep his hot-headed teenaged grandson from making the greatest mistake of his life. In a journey that begins amid the high-wattage glamour of the sets of Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments and leads to the deserts of Cairo and beyond, Ali describes how he landed a dream job as DeMille's personal assistant and then found himself enmeshed in events that changed the course of history. It's a tale that Ali has kept hidden most of his life. But now there's an urgent reason to share it: his beloved American grandson, Alex, has run off to Syria to become a holy warrior. Alex says this journey is his destiny. Ali understands better than Alex believes and knows that rescuing Alex is up to him-because Ali knows how this movie can end. With equal parts suspense, history, and family drama, Picture in the Sand is a mesmerizing story about faith, family, and the enduring power of storytelling.

Editorial Reviews

MARCH 2023 - AudioFile

Sean Rohani narrates this story of two men, grandfather Ali Hassan and his grandson, Alex. Young and politically passionate, Alex abandons his goal of attending an Ivy League school and travels to the Middle East to join a holy war. Ali, having veered from the same path 60 years earlier, has traveled along with Alex, hoping to change his trajectory by sharing his own similar experience. The story is set against the background of the making of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS movie. Rohani brings the past to life with his uncanny voicings of Cecil B. DeMille and Charlton Heston, among others. Rohani shares Alex's revelations with appropriate outrage, confusion, and, ultimately, insight. This is a powerhouse performance with intrigue and heart. L.M.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Ellery Queen Magazine

“A spy novel, a love story, and an epic celebration of cinema.”

AudioFile

“Rohani brings the past to life with his uncanny voicings of Cecil B. DeMille and Charlton Heston, among others. Rohani shares Alex’s revelations with appropriate outrage, confusion, and, ultimately, insight. This is a powerhouse performance with intrigue and heart. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”

The Economist (London)

“A cautionary tale and a mesmerizing tour of Egypt in the tumultuous 1950s.”

#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King

“On rare occasions I read a book that reminds me of why I fell in love with storytelling in the first place. This is such a book.”

Forbes

“Will make you yearn for a Cairo you never knew you missed.”

From the Publisher

Advance Praise for Picture in the Sand

"Blauner’s epic is a triumph, a story within a story, and a Bible story within a movie. It manages to meld a clear-eyed view of modern-day terrorism with the incredible true life history behind the making of Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments in Egypt. His characters rise from these pages not as the types they could be in lesser hands, but as individuals—flawed, irreducible, doomed by their historical time and limited consciousness—all too human. In the end, Picture in the Sand looks at the mess in front of us and behind us, and affirms, like Scheherazade, that stories can save us. —David Duchovny

Library Journal - Audio

★ 04/01/2023

Edgar Award—winning Blauner (Slow Motion Riot) offers a gripping intergenerational epic. Young Alex Hassan upsets his middle-class Egyptian American family by giving up college and joining a holy war in Syria. The only person Alex communicates with is his grandfather Ali, who from Brooklyn shares his own memories with his grandson, describing his life before he became a family man, from working on the set of Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments to getting entangled in the political upheaval of his own country. Ali hopes his story can convince Alex to come home before it's too late. The parallel narratives of the young Ali's disillusionment and Alex's growing fanaticism connect grandfather and grandson across generations. Narrator Sean Rohani's embodiment of both men gives dramatic weight to their stories. Rohani's emotional tone, even when reading Alex's brief emails, oscillates between the contentment of having a clear purpose and the dismay of discovering that purpose is lacking. VERDICT A different kind of epic than The Ten Commandments, this novel focuses on Ali showing his love for and belief in his grandson by giving him not a tablet of principles but a story of human triumph that goes beyond Hollywood artifice.—James Gardner

MARCH 2023 - AudioFile

Sean Rohani narrates this story of two men, grandfather Ali Hassan and his grandson, Alex. Young and politically passionate, Alex abandons his goal of attending an Ivy League school and travels to the Middle East to join a holy war. Ali, having veered from the same path 60 years earlier, has traveled along with Alex, hoping to change his trajectory by sharing his own similar experience. The story is set against the background of the making of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS movie. Rohani brings the past to life with his uncanny voicings of Cecil B. DeMille and Charlton Heston, among others. Rohani shares Alex's revelations with appropriate outrage, confusion, and, ultimately, insight. This is a powerhouse performance with intrigue and heart. L.M.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175026369
Publisher:	Dreamscape Media
Publication date:	01/05/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

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