"Important to understand and remember what Gaza was"

"Gaza does only interest the world when blood flows", wrote the author/journalist Lotta Schüllerqvist when "Marnäs Secret"
was first published in 2010.
But "Marnäs Secret" is something else: a tale about the Gaza that is never seen in the dramatic pictures.
It recounts Gazäs history and puts the war in context. And it tells about the Gazans¿ everyday life, dreams and unwavering hope.
- The new updating chapter was the most painful text I ever wrote. To realize that so much of what I used to know no longer exists.
That so many persons, whole families, have lost their lives. But it is important to undertsand and remember what Gaza used to be, says Lotta Schüllerqvist.
The book takes you along to Marna House Hotel, where Abu Munir used to serve breakfast every morning. He had worked at Gazäs oldest hotel for sixtyfour years. The hotel¿s garden café used to be filled with all kinds of Gazans, from politicians to rappers and students, who used to come there to smoke a shisha, meet some business partners or watch a football match... In the new edition Lotta Schüllerqvist has written a new foreword and a new finishing chapter that tries track down the people she used to meet while working in Gaza.

The journalist Lotta Schüllerqvist worked for many years as a reporter for the leading morning daily Dagens Nyheter. During four years she was a correspondent based in Jerusalem, who often reportred from Gaza. She has been following the development in the region for many years.