Book excerpt: Memoirs of a Young Alien tells the story of three generations of emigrants searching for an identity, a country, a better life. Ohannes, the Armenian grandfather, fled Turkey in 1916 to escape the genocide and resumed his life in Alexandria, Egypt. There he met Adele, a Lebanese girl who had fled her country, escaping the great famine triggered by the blockade of the Ottoman Empire. Ohannes and Adele’s children would scatter all over the world, from Australia to Canada. Alice, the eldest daughter, would leave Egypt precipitately in 1962, running away with her only son, Rico, and taking refuge in Beirut. For Rico, who is only six years old, it's the beginning of an exciting adventure, full of discoveries and challenges, between the cinemas of the Martyrs Square, the holidays in Aytouli village, the life in a boarding school and the first love bliss. Thanks to his mother’s hard work, he would benefit from a fine education at the best college in the country. The Six-Day War between Israel and the Arabic neighboring countries, the arrival of Palestinian refugees, inter-communal tensions, Israeli bombing: Rico is at the forefront of witnessing the preludes of the Lebanese civil war. In 1973, however, the teen escapes the impending disaster and flees to Canada, where a new life awaits him.