He had never been to Lebanon before. Yet, like many French people, he had heard a lot about it. Throughout his life, M. had seen Lebanon through the evening news reports, documentaries aired on Arte late at night, podcasts and exhibitions in Paris museums. He formed a little idea about the country's history – one that was constantly told but, in truth, remains untellable. About the civil war, an official version that Lebanon never managed to agree upon, then the unexpected and indecipherable rebirth that followed. He had read about the nightlife and the real estate boom in Beirut, about the ineffable kafala system governing migrant workers, about corruption and the underground music scene, about the supposed 18 sects sharing a territory as tiny as a handkerchief, about emigration and resilience, which seemed to be passed down like a...