The Inspiration Behind Mara
Alexandra Elkhoury started writing the premise of Mara at the young age of fourteen. Almost five years later, it is now a published a book.
“With Mara, I wanted to create a character who embodies the deepest flaws I’ve seen in myself and others. But more than that, I wanted to reveal the reasoning behind her actions—to show how easily the mind can sweep someone away. It’s difficult to understand why someone does what they do yet so easy to judge the action itself. At the time, I struggled to explain how my mind worked, why I acted a certain way. And it appeared others could only see and judge the outcome. Through Mara, readers can step into that blur of thought and emotion, and self-reflect.”
While Mara is a novel open to the reader's interpretation, it draws from Alexandra's personal experiences as a young Palestinian-Lebanese author. Since discovering her love for classic literature, Alexandra has channeled her emotions and observations into writing. Her work primarily focuses on mental health, exploring its complexity and the many layers that shape human journeys. Beyond writing, Alexandra is an advocate for women’s empowerment, using her voice to champion social causes. Through her heartfelt stories, Alexandra hopes to inspire readers to embrace vulnerability and engage with the nuanced realities of mental health and self-discovery.
Mara has a cruel and loveless childhood living on a farm with her parents in the rural town of Ranches. She turns to her journal and reads works of literature in an attempt to escape from an alcoholic father and a psychotic mother; erasing the lines between imagination and actuality. When Mara witnesses the murder of her father, she decides to flee.
In a far away motel, Mara meets a young man. He forces her to face the dangerous truths of her past and the unknown beauties of her future. But she falls deeper into madness. Mara follows an unreliable narrator as she searches for self-reconciliation.
